Foxtails and Fairytales: Facades and Fables of the Phantom Prince

Arc.18 Ch.6 Dour Times

After bantering we made our way to the bandit's headquarters which was an abandoned mine. We cleared out the few guards remaining and found a sorry set of prisoners. They looked at the bandit tied up with us with a mixture of scorn and fear.

"I knew he was an honorless scum." Raven reached for her sword but was stopped by Flint.

"You won't help anyone doing it for them," Flint said. He stabbed a rod in the ground that was an abandoned piece of equipment. With the tied-up bandit secured to the rod and secured so he couldn't fight back or run he panicked.

"No wait. I brought you here, you said that you would let me live!" the bandit pleaded.

"I said I MIGHT let you walk away. It's up to them to decide if you live." Flint said. He then dropped a handful of clubs at the feet of the girls.

Flint whispered something to the girls that made them pale and then steeled their vengeful gazes at the bandit.

"Let's leave them to their business." he looked at Raven who watched the women pick up the weapons and walk over to the weaselly bandit pleading for his life. She looked conflicted by the outcome since she didn't think there was any reason anyone should be able to kill another person. But the women had been through more than she dared imagine and defending the bandit also didn't seem right.

"Mercy or Justice, his fate can only truly be decided by the victims, let the winds take us to more benevolent treasures." Flint said and we left as the sounds of the Bandit's pleading turned to screams of pain and agony.

I had seen my fair share of these kinds of sights, and they were never good. My heart had been hardened a long time ago against such men.

I would say that Flint had done the right thing, and my only regret is that we didn't leave more bandits alive to suffer the same fate.

We made our way to the back of the cave where the bandit leader had set his office.

We looted the place which only really had some money and some tacky ornamental weapons. I was able to go through the maps though and found what we were looking for. Skipping some of the tragedy we healed the girls and had them wash in some warm water I provided in a sinkhole bath I made. We took them to the nearest city guild and dropped them off for the guild to handle.

Something in the air unsettled me though.

A part of me is probably a bit more jaded than I care to admit due to the constant run-ins with slavery, bandits, and just the lack of value for human life in this world. That night I sat up and considered my adventures and where I might put myself on the spectrum of good guy but with all the blood I've seen and pain I've caused it's hard to see myself beyond the gray of excuses.

I've heard that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Can I call any of my intentions "good" anymore?

Introspective tells me that I'm the poster child for selfish behavior. I've been running so hard for so long and for what? I'm tired.

I slip out to the balcony and look at the sky.

Once again, I consider the two moons in the sky. When I first saw them so many years ago they were the objects in this world that welcomed me into this fantasy world.

But I've been in this world so long the "fantasy" has worn off. Not to say there isn't any joy left to find, but now when I dig into the world's secrets the stories of heroes, dragons, and magics are too close for comfort.

It's like the difference between seeing a speeding train and being so close to one that you are pulled into its slipstream. The "fantasy" is now a deadly train sundering the air inches from my nose.

And those moons... they weren't just celestial objects somewhere beyond reach. If I open Foxgate... will I find Inari and Stygia? Will I be able to break this curse? Or will I unleash Governance on this world in all his fury and armies? If I open Foxgate will the Moons disappear or fall?

Will Sherlock Holmes, the greatest detective, actually be able to give me an answer? And will I be ready to hear it?

I'm not just on a happy-go-lucky adventure, I may be tampering with the laws of the world itself. What will happen to the foxes if I open Foxgate?

Some part of me wants and maybe desperately needs to believe that my purpose here is for some grand design. That I am here to be a part of this grand love story between Inari and Stygia. That I will be able to call upon their power to break this curse and usher in a new age where immortals will be welcomed back into the world.

But am I so arrogant to believe I am some hero in this grand play, or do I truly believe myself to be a side character in a larger story?

"Got something on your mind?" Flint asked as he joined me on the balcony.

Flint was a far cry from the dour child I had first met, and his swordplay had only gotten that much more dangerous. Now I was the dour child.

I told him about some of my concerns.

"I don't understand what the problem is," Flint said flippantly. "Don't look at me like that. You seem to have some misconceptions here, poopy pants. You are hung up on two things; being part of some grand story and that being selfish is wrong."

Flint went on to explain. "First of all, Selfishness is a spectrum. Hels even being selfless is on the selfish scale. Only the most absurd people are actually considered evil for their selfish desires. More importantly, selfishness turns the gears of the world and keeps us moving forward. Merchants are selfish, kings are selfish, even saints are selfish. We all do something to satisfy some internal need. And the people steeped in selfishness create grand artworks, build monuments, and circulate goods and services! Yes, we can do things for other people too but there is hardly an action that any human does that doesn't directly affect themselves. Being completely selfless in all things is lunacy and worse it's arrogance."

"That's all well and good for you to say," I said.

"Oh, fuck off, you act like you are the only one who has ever had something bad happen to you." Flint snarled. "Get out of your own ass, you have at least two sets of parents, mine are dead and then I got scrapped up by that Lunatic Blackbeard! And yes... the future is scary. The unknown is as horrifying as our imagination gets because some part of us knows what we are afraid of and assume it's involved."

Flint took a calming breath and looked back at the sky. "But another part of you has to realize, you are only one person, and you already have many stories. But that is just a couple of drops in the ocean around you. Peel away the veil and look around you. We exist in a sea of ever-changing stories, altered by the flux of choices being made around us."

I took a second and looked around and maybe for the first time I noticed the city below us. It was still active and alive. People socialized and laughed. They cried over personal matters and still others threw up in the allies after having too much to drink. Everywhere I looked big and small, time still marched forward regardless of my worries.

"Let me tell you a story. You like stories, right?" Flint said.

I chuckled a bit at that and got a self-satisfied smile in return.