77 Disguise
The duo chased after the trio like a lion hunting a gazelle. Even though Perseus and Jack were weaker than the three bandit raiders they needed to defeat the three in order to complete the plan they had just made on the fly.
The bandits exited the forest and waited on the side of a road for any passerby. Perseus gave Jack all of the daggers he had on hand, tell him to throw them when he got the opportunity but to keep one for self-defense.
Perseus and Jack sat and waited for the trio to do something. They were waiting for the perfect opportunity to ambush them.
The opportunity came when a wandering merchant wearing glasses was walking down the road, he was carrying a large backpack that was filled with trinkets and weird gadgets Perseus even saw some glasses that had swirls etched into them and what Perseus thought were game figurings. The bandits wasted no time in jumping in front of the man. They surrounded the man held up their swords to him and demanded he give them all of his valuables including everything in his backpack.
Perseus didn't see what the wandering merchant's reaction was, and he had no time he signaled to Jack and they emerged from their hiding space to attack the bandits. Jack reached one of the bandits first, they hadn't noticed them as they were too absorbed by the merchant. Jack jumped and used his two daggers to stab as hard as he could into one bandit back. Unfortunately, the dagger bounced out of Jack hands and broke on the bandit's armor. The bandit turned around about to swing its sword in relation but Perseus jumped in before he could even turn his head and stabbed the turning head before it could even see its opponent. The other two bandits were alerted and moved back to evaluate their enemies.
Perseus took a deep breath, he had expected this to happen but facing off against 2 higher level opponents meant that his skills would be put to the test. Before when planning this sudden battle, he had thought about the differences a few levels give you. The answer to that was a few stat points, so he needed to overcome the difference in skill. Perseus wasn't confident but at the moment he made that decision he was, now facing the two bandits he wasn't so sure.
One of the bandits called out in a provoking way
"Hah can't believe he hit the bucket because of a few kids, time to show them what a senior can do"
The two charged toward them, Perseus activated all of the skills he could and dodged to the side in a way that only one of the bandits could approach him. He shoved Jack behind him and started to clash with one of the bandits. But before Perseus did anything a dagger flew behind him and accurately embedded itself into the bandits arm, he screaming in pain and barely dodged Perseus's attempt to end it all.
Wait where was the other bandit? Oh no Perseus turned his head around to see the bandit raising his sword to attack Jack was holding his arm up in defense. He ran toward Jack Perseus screamed in his head
'Why isn't he using his dagger to defend?'
Then he looked at the dagger impeded in the bandit's arm. Everything was like in slow motion from the sword slowly dropping down on the defenseless Jack to the dust cloud slowly settling. Perseus watched as the sword dropped down from 5 meters away he reached out but nothing could reach them. Perseus closed his eyes and he didn't want to witness the death of his newest companion.
A thunderous roar was heard from the side of the road
"ENOUGH"
A large beam of light engulfed the bandit and incinerated him and left a hole in the trees behind him. Another beam of light hit the bandit with a dagger in his arm and the only thing that remained was a pile of ash.
Perseus' vision returned to normal and his momentum carried him in a way that catapulted him into Jack. Perseus helped Jack and gave an enormous sigh of relief, but he didn't have time to be thankful he looked at the wandering merchant who was holding what Perseus could only call a laser gun. It had a sleek metal look with green and blue tubes filled with an unknown liquid wired all around it.
The merchant was looking at the charred pieces of ash with a satisfied expression. Perseus approached the merchant, even if he was scaring the crap out of Perseus he still needed to express his thanks.
"Thank you, kind sir, for saving my comrade"
He nodded and looked at Perseus. Perseus couldn't see his eyes through the foggy lens but his voice was high pitched and overall sounded a bit unnatural even if he talked normally.
"It was my duty, just be sure to not challenge anything out of your spectrum"
He nodded to himself
"well I must leave, I wish you good luck on your bandit mission"
saying that he started walking down the road with his large backpack.
Perseus called out to the departing merchant
"Sir, would you be so kind as to tell me your name?"
The merchant turned around and looked at Perseus. The sunlight hit his glasses in such a way that his glasses reflected the sun.
"you don't need to worry about it we shall meet again Perseus"
He then walked off and before Perseus knew it he had already disappeared
Perseus got up and dusted himself. He checked up on Jack and then a few things hit him. The first made him facepalm, he never analyzed the merchant. The second brought him chills, he was called by name. He reported as fast as he could to Boops who said that he would figure it out. With nothing else to do, Perseus got up and moved around to shake the chill that had come over his body.
Jack had already recovered but all he had understood about the circumstances, was that a strong magician with a weird staff saved them and had just left. Meeting a magician carrying a bag like that was weird but they were known to be eccentric. So even though it was a bit abnormal it was kinda normal to Jack.
Perseus sat Jack down. He gazed at Jack with a ferocious intensity he started speaking in an angry tone
"Listen, Jack, don't ever do something like throwing your last weapon ever again, even if its to help others, you need to survive. I don't care if I'm injured but you, you need to make it out no matter what."
This little "lecture" brought tears to Jacks's eye, it was weird he wasn't crying out of sadness or shame like when he got caught stealing. But for some reason, the tears just wouldn't stop.
Perseus noticed that he made Jack cry and he started to feel a bit guilty.
But Jack on the other hand was still crying his eyes out over an emotion he had never felt before. He couldn't describe it, it was too large and overwhelming for him to accurately describe it. But to Jack, there were a few things that he knew. One was that Perseus would never do anything bad to him and the second was that he couldn't stop smiling.
Perseus saw the smile on Jacks's face and also gave a smile. How could he not know how it felt. He and his twin had also experienced it.
A wave of dizziness hit Perseus, it seems like it was about time for him to log out and get some sleep. He handed Jack a silver coin.
"find some lodging and treat yourself to some food, I'm sure you can take care of yourself right?"
"yes master, thank you for everything"
"No problem kid now go I need to get some rest"
Perseus watched as Jack ran down the road to the city, he watched him a bit to make sure that no bandits would ambush him. After seeing that he was near the city he logged out.
In reality, Perseus emerged from his capsule. He staggered out of the capsule having to hold himself up with the wall. Reaching his room he dragged himself into bed without even showering. He climbed into the bottom bunk of the bunk bed and huddled under the blankets.
He was just about to drift off into sleep when the lights were flipped on again. This time a tired Arjuna was dragging himself into bed. He was soaked in sweat like Perseus but the two didn't care about hygiene right now.
Perseus cracked open his eyes, Arjuna was climbing up the ladder but he looked down and made eye contact with his twin. Even though they had just been apart for a day it felt like they had separated and changed so much in those hours.
Before long loud snores started to emerge from the dark room.
