Dances of Pain, Circles of Frustration

The Templar with the Goatee called himself Slick, which made Jack want to puke. Probably considers himself a ladies man while he’s slicing them open, he thought to himself as he punched the man across the jaw again.

“Do your worst, Stalwart,” the Xemmoni spit his words past bleeding lips. “I’m a Templar, we feast on pain.”

“Even your own?” he asked, through grit teeth, while he laid another blow into the man’s stomach. Jack had dragged the man into the back of an ‘out of business’ gas station. He had stayed safe so far, but he knew he shouldn’t push his luck.

“Yes,” the blood soaking his goatee left the man looking like a talking zombie. “Pain is our spiral dance and we cling to it with—ooooffffggghhhh”

“Shut the hell up. The last thing I need to hear is Xemmoni poetry. Just listen to what I have to say and if you can help me I might consider letting you skip this particular dance.”

Slick’s eyes were a light red, almost pink as they met his. “Fire away. This should be good for a laugh.”

“I heard there might be some trouble brewing on the north side of town. Any idea what it might be?” Even as Jack said the words, part of him wondered if he was being crazy. My mom had only said there was something wrong. There could be a hundred other explanations that have nothing to do with the supernatural. Am I just wasting my time, dealing with this crap when all she might need is some extra money to repair her car?

But when he saw the Xemmoni shiver when he mentioned ‘north side’ he knew he was onto something. “What is it?”

“I don’t have a problem telling you what I know. If you think you can take care of this, more power to you.” The Templar drew a deep breath. “About two months ago, a darkness slipped into town. Something no one had ever seen. At first we thought that the other clans were invading our turf, but they weren’t,” the man’s light red eyes bore into his, “They were fleeing.”

 

Red Pain

 

“The north had mostly been controlled by the Caradon and Darcarre. We caught a Darcarre,” a wicked blood soaked smile interrupted his speech, “And made him spill his guts, you might say. Even he didn’t really know what was going on up there. He blathered on about some new race of Xemmoni that no one had seen. Powerful. Unstoppable.”

“Beyond this I don’t know much more. I’ve heard that the darkness is growing. And we don’t go to the northside any more. We were actually thinking about relocating if this keeps up.”

“A coward as always.”

Jack’s thoughts were interrupted by a pair of flashlights illuminating the garage. These were quickly followed by a loud voice. “Stay where you are. This is the police. Drop any weapons you have, put your hands on your head, and come out one at a time.”

Normally Jack became a snake in situations like this, but his Ki was spent and his battle with the Temple of Pain had weakened him. With a curse, he looked toward other exits only to see them being covered by more police officers.

“Crap!”

 

To be continued next Monday…

 

 

Find out how Jack’s Adventures Started… Here!

 

 

Yig Awakes