The Girl Who Saved My Life

The leader had two guards and a steward boy behind him at all times.

"Bring me a chair, farmer boy!" Jaquer Maclain furiously ordered the boy who was standing beside him, half-naked with a torn tunic. He was a farmer boy, just like Lars.

He hastily ran into the castle and returned in no time, carrying a wooden chair in his hands. 

He carefully placed it for the leader to sit on. 

"Off with you now, you stink!" He ordered, and the boy bowed and left the place. 

Vegas and Tara were already deeply unsettled by Jaquer Maclain's disgusting attitude, his crooked teeth, shabby appearance, his patchy beard, and his crossed, grey-colored eyes. He was quite fat and tall, with tanned skin, but definitely not as tall as Yin. He did not look like an appropriate leader at all, nor did he look decent. 

The man sat himself down, his fat belly pouting out his luxurious tunic, decorated with colorful gems and floral patterns.

"Now, Yin Kang, The King of the Realm, I saw you causing trouble to my dear people. What was that about?" Jaquer inquired with his baritone tone.

"Oh no, we tried making your people understand, but they attacked us first, so my crewmate got angry. That was all." Yin explained politely. 

"Ah, is it? I see." He paused briefly, scanned every one of their faces, and then continued.

"You see, my guards here tell me a different story. They told me that you lied about your name. Is that true, Mr. Li?" Jaquer asked with a mocking tone, his eyes squinting now and then, randomly. 

He was so unpleasant to look at.

"Indeed, in the fear of not being allowed into the city, I had to." Yin admitted.

"But you are blaming my people first. Why?" He threw back at him.

"I don't mean to sound rude, Mr. Jaquer. But…"

"Lord. Lord Jaquer. That's how you are supposed to address me." He cut him before he could continue.

"My apologies, Lord Jaquer. As I was saying, your people were hostile towards us when we meant no harm." Yin was persistent with his patience. 

"So you made that female bitch of yours cast a spell on our people?" He protested with an irritating voice.

Tara cracked her knuckles, but Yin held her back.

"Lord Jaquer, as I said, I didn't command it. She got angry. We all get angry sometimes, don't we?" 

"That is fair. He's not wrong, is he?" Jaquer looked at his guards and concurred.

He then shifted his eyes to Vegas, eying her like a hungry animal, from her white skirt to her neck. 

"I must say, you have my respect as to whom you choose to share your bed with, Mr. Yin."

Vegas was perplexed as she caught the man staring at her.

"Pardon, Lord Jaquer?" Yin was also confused.

"That white-haired bitch. She's a real beauty, isn't she? So tell me, how was she?" His tone was somehow getting uglier than his face. 

Vegas was inches away from pulling Juno out.

But Yin stopped her too.

Yin managed to swallow his disgusted taunts.

"I'm afraid you have mistaken my sister, Vegas, Lord Jaquer." Yin forced an uncomfortable chuckle.

"Goodness! If the Gods blessed me with a sibling like that, I would've sinned mercilessly every day." 

For some reason, the crowd did not seem to be bothered or even slightly disgusted by their leader's words and behavior. 

"Lord Jaquer, I want to talk to you about a great war that is coming for me. I cannot deal with that by myself. I want to unite and Realm and fight against the coming danger. I need your help." Yin came to the point.

"Oh! I almost forgot. You are that true God them bloody Northerners bowed down to right? You named our Realm, made up some fairytales for your fake godly powers... Wow. It all makes sense now." He didn't bother with the previous question.

Yin stood silently.

"He is a God, you moron!" Lars yelled in response, out of nowhere. 

Yin looked down at him with an upset reaction.

"Oh, look who it is, everyone! The traitorous son of a bitch, Lars! HAHAHAHA!" Some of the people in the crowd laughed along, and the others remained frightened by the incident.

"Come 'ere, dear Lars." Jaquer called him out with a threatening tone.

Lars slowly walked towards him with furious eyes, and then he stopped near Jaquer's reach.

"Ya filthy brat!"

He delivered a tight slap to Lars across the face and then kicked him to the floor. 

"You traitor! You killed our men and managed to flee?" He spat at the little boy.

"Lord Jaquer! Enough of this!" Yin yelled, finally.

"Oh! Have I angered you, God? I plead for forgiveness." He mocked him.

"This is a serious matter, and we need your help! We need to talk!" Yin said it firmly.

"You know what, Mr. God? I wanna talk too. You're right. Let me calm down. Let's begin." Ugly Jaquer sat back down in his chair.

"Thank you, Lord Jaquer! As I was saying, there's a war..." 

"Uh, no, no, no, no. From the beginning, I meant. Tell us your tale of how you became a God. We're curious." He was starting to get on Yin's nerves.

"What? There is no time for all that, Lord Jaquer! We need to..."

"You need my help, don't you? So do as I say." Jaquer ordered.

Yin looked at his crew, upset. He was being fueled with anger, but he had to calm himself down. 

That was when Mei's face repeatedly appeared. Her brown eyes and brown hair. Her touch. The days he spent drinking creamed-coke soda with her.

Yin inhaled.

"I come from another Realm called Earth. I died saving someone there. That someone is Mei Chang. The girl who saved my life. She is everything to me. One day, she tried to kill herself by jumping off a tall building. But I saved her and died. And after I died, I woke up somewhere dark. I heard a voice in there. A voice of a God. He promised that if I did whatever he commanded me to, he would grant me a wish. And I wished to go back home to Mei. Hence the name, Meilands. And this war that is coming right now is for me—to kill the god that is in me, once and for all. That's why I want everyone's help. To win this war against whatever is coming for me." Yin ended his long monologue.

There was utter silence. 

…

And then they cracked.

"HAHAHAHA!" It was Jaquer Maclain who broke out laughing first, and his mindless followers laughed with him afterwards.

"Yin Kang! Now that's a story I will tell my future kids. What a beautiful tale. I'll make sure everyone writes a book about you!" He continued again.

"So, Mr. God?" 

Yin was looking at him with a stern look.

"This Mei girl you're talking about... Is she a hottie like that white-haired bitch over there?" He pointed to Vegas.

Yin's wrath was about to be unveiled.

"Tell me! Come on! Did she have firm tits or...

…

Yin went to unsheathe his sword.

A white flash zoomed past him.

And Jaquer's voice was silenced.

His annoyed and irritating noise finally came to an end.

Yin couldn't believe his eyes.

Blood spurted and surged out of Jaquer's head. 

The cracking of his skull was audible.

…

It was Vegas clutching Juno, pierced deep into his skull.

Yin looked at Vegas, his eyes wide open.

"He talks too much." Vegas replied to Yin's reaction; her face was sprayed with the ugly man's blood.

White and red.

Jaquer Maclain was dead.

The entire crowd was frozen.

"Not bad, Kitty." Said Tara Elykis.