Woman Dressed in Silver (2)

After a long evening helping the traveling nomads set up camp, Chronos made his way out of a large tent made from dragon scales. The scales were polished with a clear coat, allowing the silver moon's stolen light to reflect off. As Chronos turned away from the tent, an unknown figure appeared before him. Startled, Chronos stood guard, watching the figure.

"Looks like I can even sneak up on a hero." The man lit a torch and walked over to Chronos. He had a youthful face with jet-black hair tied up in a man bun. Behind him was a black spear. A bloodied handkerchief was tied around the part that connected the spearhead to the handle. The spearhead was in a sorry state of disrepair, as it was chipped all around. The man wore broken armor with bandages stained with blood poking through the holes.

As Chronos looked at the man's worn attire, he tightened his dirty cloak. "A hero is someone who saves others, not lets them die." Chronos tried to walk past the man. However, he was stopped by his spear.

"A hero is an imperfect being who fights for a better tomorrow." The man smiled. "At least, that's what I believe. We are but a dying race. No one is perfect. We all hold on to the smallest things to keep us sane through these dark times."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I've been watching you all day. You had this… worried expression as if you were unsure of the path you should follow." Intrigued by the man's perception, Chronos took a step back and reached into his cloak. "Oh?"

Chronos pulled out a rusted dagger. "If you believe that I should follow this path lay by Pupagenti, then best me combat. If you fail to, I shall leave, and you'll have to find some other hero to team up with to forge this kingdom of rebels fighting for a dying cause."

The man spun his spear around, accepting his challenge. The man planted a torch at his feet and looked at Chronos. "So you are just gonna have others choose your fate? Have you no control over your life?"

"I am nothing but a soldier who failed to save his kingdom." Chronos threw off his cloak, revealing a set of very damaged armor. On the armor was a worn belt of rusted daggers that varied in size. The man smiled and ran at Chronos. With a swift dash, Chronos evaded the piercing attack thrown at him and grabbed the spear by the bloodied handkerchief. "I see, are just alike-!" As Chronos spoke, the man panted his feet into the ground. He then used all of his strength to swing Chronos into the air. "-Huh?" Airborne, Chronos looked down and saw the man vaulting himself into the air using his spear. Flying just above Chronos, he brought his spear over his head and slammed down onto Chronos' stomach, using the butt end of the spear. The impact sent Chronos slamming down onto the ground below.

As Chronos landed, his cloak from before landed on his head. Unable to get up, Chronos grabbed his cloak and waved it, admitting defeat. The man picked up his torch and stabbed his spear into the ground. He walked over to Chronos and reached out his hand.

"The name is Loki, a scout looking for a purpose in this broken world." Chronos grabbed his hand, and Loki helped him up. After dusting off his broken armor, he wrapped the cloak around him. With a smile, Loki slapped Chronos on the shoulder. "I follow Pupagenti because she promised us a future."

"And if she fails to guide you to that future?" Chronos gave Loki a skeptical look.

Loki shrugs his shoulders. "If we fail, at least I can say I did something." Loki chuckled a little.

"I will never understand your type." Chronos sighed.

Loki then walked over to his spear and placed it back onto his back. "Anyway, I originally came here to fetch you. Pupagenti says she needs to talk to you as a collaborator." Without waiting for a reply. Loki started walking. Chronos followed closely behind.

~~~~

"Are you fucking kidding me!!!!" Chronos slammed his hands onto a wooden table in the center of a large tent.

Before him was Pupagenti, who whistled a tone-death tune while avoiding eye contact with Chronos. A small flickering candle was their only light source in the dark tent. Chronos sat back down, massaging his temple.

"So let me get this straight. You plan to start a kingdom with no money, workers, or a means to gather food?" Chronos glared at Pupagenti, who was now fiddling with her fingers. "Are you sure you should be fit to be a queen?"

"Look…" Pupagenti spoke with a quiet voice. "Everyone here is a trained fighter. There may be only twenty of us, but I thought you would be happy with that number. Can't have a kingdom with no defenses." She smiled at Chronos.

Her innocent appearance caused Chronos to release a deep sigh.

"Ok, how about this?" Chronos cleared his throat. "Let us say we make it to this destination of yours. How are you gonna build it?"

"Simple!" A marble doll jumped from the shadows and landed on the table. It looked at Chronos and bowed its head. "While you are in charge of military affairs with the others, I will handle all domestic affairs using these little guys."

"How? Rather, what is your power?"

"Control." Pupagenti pulled out another doll and placed it on the table. She snapped her fingers, and a silver mist flew out and enveloped the doll. Within a few seconds, the mist vanished, leaving the doll behind. The doll then started to move. "My power allows me to control things. So far, I can only control inanimate objects with joints. If the object doesn't have joints, then I can't move them. So statues are out of the question unless they were made to move."

"So if you wanted to, you could control a corpse?"

"No…" She sighed. "But I might be able to. After all, the angel said that we cultivate our powers. So maybe if I get used to controlling my ability, I'll get to control corpses, maybe even other people." Chronos rested his hand on a dagger in his cloak. "Err… relax. I wouldn't do that." Her face didn't match her words. Seeing that Chronos was on guard, Pupagenti panicked and tried to keep the conversation flowing. "So, what about your power?"

"I don't really know."

"Huh?"

"I mean, I think I can control time, but that's… about… it?" As Chronos said that, time around him froze. "Okay… this is getting annoying."

While time was frozen, he paced around the room. Minutes for him had passed by with no change. Chronos, confused by his own powers, grew tired of pacing around the room and walked over to Pupagenti. With a mischievous look on his face, he went under the table. With his objective in sight, he grabbed the bottom of Pupagenti's dress. Time resumed as he lifted the dress, and a marble doll flew out of her dress and tried to stab him in the eyes. Chronos quickly reached into his cloak and pulled out a dagger to deflect the doll. Afterward, he banged his head on the bottom of the table and dropped his dagger. Holding his head in pain, he came out from under the table, and his eyes met with Pupagenti's.

"So teleportation?" She stood up from the table and backed away with three Marble dolls at her side. With an overcast look of disappointment, she glared at him.

"Tsk." Chronos stood up and tried to play off what had just happened. "Yeah, let's go with that. I can't really control it yet."

"But that is twice that you appeared under my dress."

"It's nothing but coincidence." He said sharply. Chronos then clears his throat. "Anyway, so you are gonna be using those little dolls to help build and gather food?"

Still disgusted by his actions, Pupagenti took a step back and nodded.

"I'm not going to do it again. Relax."

"A man with power changes him." Pupagenti glared at him.

"Look, being a gentleman around royals is a lot of work sometimes. I need some kind of reward that's not money or fame."

"So you attempt to purposely doing that."

"Oops…"

Pupagenti sighed and walked over to the table. "A least you came to at the end. But if you want to be a creep, wait for the one destined for you. I will not give the satisfaction you desire." Before Chronos had a chance to rebuttal. Pupagenti shooed him out of the tent. Chronos sighed after failing to clear his name and left the tent with a defeated look.