The Wanderer

"𝘖𝘩? 𝘐𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮? 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 ,𝘮𝘦, 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘮𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧-"

"SHUT UP, DON'T YOU EVEN YOU USELESS THOUGHTLESS NON-RESPECTFUL OVER JUDGEMENTAL PART OF ME."

This, thing? Was certainly an interesting one, the fool nor Novis heard of any of this as they were too far away, but if this continued to happen the fool would definitely notice it.

"𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦."

They kept walking towards them, admiring the blue cloudless sky, the horrid infertile dirt below him, and the few dead trees within the area.

"𝘖𝘩 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘴, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵, 𝘮𝘦, 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦? 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵."

"Sometimes, you can be so annoying."

Surrounding beasts started to notice the Thing, and a couple of infected wolves started to slowly circle around them.

"See? The minute you're pessimistic is the second that bad things happen to us."

"Well maybe if you opened your eyes more, you would realize just how terrible this place truly is."

"All I care about is the bare minimum, and even less than that, leave my lifestyle to myself."

"Why would I if you're just going to endanger me as well?"

The wolves grew impatient, their wounds were reopening, and the magic within them was starting to leak out again, this is extremely painful to the creature and it causes them to act recklessly in retaliation to their personal problems.

One of them leaped trying to bite them, he pounced on top of their chest and started gnawing at its face but to no avail.

They didn't have a face, they wore some sort of mask that seemed to be made out of wood, but one of these average beasts could easily bite through an average tree, yet this mask somehow yielded more durability and importance.

The design of it was simple, there were only three holes, two for the eyes and one where the mouth should be, sort of an oval-like shape for the eyes and a perfect circle for the mouth.

"HEEEELLLPPPP SOMEBODY HELP MEEEEE."

The fool annoyingly woke up with Novis on his shoulder.

"What? Novis are you ok?"

"Luce? Do you hear that as well?"

"Not only do I hear it I see it."

The masked thing was struggling, their arms were flailing and so were their legs as he was pleading for someone to help him.

"This guy is so annoying, Novis you go help him."

"What? But you're faster."

"Yeah but aren't you the heroic person of our group and all?"

"Well if you put it that way. Fine, I'll go help him."

Novis gets up, does a few stretches, and quickly runs in the direction of the thing seeking the help of anyone or anything.

He uses his Water boots to arrive there quicker.

"𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺? 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴."

He elegantly kills the four wolves in the area, giving them a quick and easy death.

"Are you alright there?"

It freakishly gets up as if they were being reanimated.

"Oh thank you, good sir, thank you thank you."

"No problem?"

They quickly end up at Novis's legs thanking him continuously over and over again.

"Really, It's nothing, could you let me go now?"

They look up at him straight into his eyes with a completely different mask, this time it's light blue with tears engraved near their 'eyes'.

"AM I BOTHERING YOU? I AM SO SO SORRY, HOW COULD YOU EVER FORGIVE ME"

"Ha, ha, could you just get off my le-"

"OH, YOU ARE SO ANNOYING YOU KNOW THAT, ASKING FOR THIS AND THAT PLEADING A THANK YOU TO A MAN AND BOTHERING HIM, YOU'RE POINTLESS SOMETIMES YOU KNOW THAT? SHOW SOME RESPECT."

Their mask changes yet again, It's purple with weird engravings all over his face this time, all of them of different colors.

"Are you doing alright there?"

They quickly punch themself to the ground.

"SIR, PLEASE DON'T DO THAT."

Their mask changes to the usual brown woodlike color

"Woah, that was a good punch from me, sorry you had to see all that."

"𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘦."

"Let me greet you politely." They put their hand out.

Novis is very confused about what to do anymore, and although hesitant, he reciprocates the greeting by shaking his hand.

"The name is Wanderer, Pandora's Wanderer."

"Pandora?"

"Yes, you can call me the Wanderer for short."

"My name is Novis, and my friend over there is Luce."

"𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘕𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦? 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘸𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘭𝘰𝘵."

Novis's stomach starts to agitate a little.

"Oh, hungry are we? I can teach you a secret about these wolves."

"REALLY? I'LL EAT ANYTHING."

Novis quickly bubbles all of the wolves, grabs the Wanderer's hand, and heads back to where the fool is at max speed.

Their mask turns a vibrant orange with white symbols all over it.

"COULDN'T YOU BE A LITTLE FASTER YOU ANNOYING BRAT? SOMETIMES IT'S BETTER TO BE SLOW YOU KNOW THAT?"

They quickly slap themself.

"Do not worry about myself, it just happens sometimes."

"Whatever you say, buddy, just cook us anything."

"𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦, 𝘚𝘩𝘶𝘵 𝘶𝘱, 𝘮𝘦, 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘪𝘵, 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘩 𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘶𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘥𝘰."

"COULD YOU QUIT BEING PESSIMISTIC FOR ONE SECOND? I'M DONE WITH MYSELF ALRIGHT? SO NO MORE TALKING.

Ha ha, just a simple lovers' quarrel don't you worry about it Novis."

"Sure, if you say so."

They quickly arrive with the fool a little confused about what is exactly happening.

"So who's this, thing?"

"Luce this is Pandora, Pandora this is Luce."

"Quite tall aren't you."

Pandora's Wanderer is about 220 centimeters tall, they're quite skinny and their arms are longer than they should be, along with their fingers, they wear roughed-up clothes that seemed to be patched up mostly, surprisingly they wear a very specific hood designed to conceal anything facial related as well as fit any mask they put on perfectly.

"Good morning good sir, very nice to meet you as well."

"What's up with the mask?"

The mask changes yet again, this time it's green with a bunch of geometrical shapes on it.

"IT'S GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU OK? YOU UNDERSTAND THAT YOU SHORT LITTLE KID?"

The fool sighs and quickly uses his armor to check what exactly is underneath the mask, upon doing so, he regrets it and returns back to his original position.

"Yes you're right, I was just curious."

The mask returns to its original look.

"How polite of you, now let us get to cooking."

"𝘛𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘳𝘥, 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘓𝘶𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦? 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰."

"Could you procure me a pan and some fire?"

The fool very speedily gathers branches for some fire and creates a pan made out of Rock.

"Here you go," he says whilst snapping his fingers, igniting the branches.

"You're quite special aren't you?"

"Something of the sort."

In their best singing voice, the Wanderer sings "It's quiiiiite simple realllly, first you remove the bones, (His mask changes.) Bones bones, bones bones, (Back to normal) Then we drain the blood, (Mask change) Blue bad, Blue bad (Back to normal.) And finally, we cook it all together (Mask change) Cook Cook, Cook Cook."

Novis whispers into the fool's ear.

"What do we do about him?"

"First of all, it's more of a them than a him, second, absolutely no idea."

"A them?"

"It's quite complicated, either way, we can just take them with us to the next Kingdom."

"If you say so."

"AND I'M DONE."

Some of the meat was skewered, and some were served as steaks, although they were all blue and weird they seemed somewhat edible.

"Thank you, Wanderer."

"Yes thank you for the food."

They both cautiously take a first bite.

"Well? What do you think?"

"It's actually quite good, wow."

"Not bad Wanderer, this is some pretty good stuff."

Their mask turns pink.

"Oh you two are so flattering, this is the least I could do for being saved."

"Speaking of which, don't you have some way of defending yourself?"

"Depends the mood, sometimes yes, other times no."

"I guess that makes sense? Either way, we've got a long way to go, would you like to join us?"

"Hmmm, YES ABSOLUTELY, NO NOT AT ALL, YEAH WHY NOT, OF COURSE NOT JUST WHO DO YOU THINK I AM? WHY WOULD I WANT TO GO WITH YOU? OF COURSE, I'D LOVE TO, COULD YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE FOREVER? AND STICK BY MY SIDE AT ALL TIMES?"

Their mask changed so much, they collapsed.

"Hey, I helped him first now it's your turn to fix all of this."

"Fine fine, I'll think of something."