Hero Vs Villain (BoyxBoy)

In Which Vandel is Rude to the Elderly

"Your friend seems to be a real hit with the ladies."

I nearly rolled my eyes. "Is he now? And he's not my friend, just my traveling companion."

She chuckled again. "You care about him, I can tell."

I narrowed my eyes. "I cared about a human once, it was a mistake I won't make again."

The Ancient's gaze remained on me.

"The wounds still fresh isn't it?" She said slowly.

I stiffened. "What?"

"You've been around for awhile but this...I'd say it happened four...maybe five years ago."

"How did you...how would you..." I was so confused and nervous I could hardly get a sentence out...something that was extremely rare for me.

"You never thought this would happen again yet here you are, finding yourself starting to care. And you...you're doing everything you can to smother it because of what happened last time-"

"Hey, Vandel I think I know where we should go next," Ridley said, suddenly coming up behind us. He glanced to the Ancient now, noticing her. "Oh, I'm sorry!" He said, bowing his head. "I didn't see you there. I apologize if I was interrupting anything."

"Nope!" I said, almost too quickly. "You weren't interrupting a thing! What did you find out?"

"Apparently we should talk to someone named Odna. She's the most powerful of the Ancients."

"Well you're in luck," the Ancient that had been talking to me said suddenly. "Because I'm Odna."

Ridley immediately bowed even lower than he had before.

"My name is Ridley."

"And I'm Prince Vandel of the Demon Kingdom."

She extended her hand and after a beat I reluctantly shook it.

"A pleasure," she said with a toothy grin...well as toothy as it could be when she only had several teeth. "Of course, I already knew who both of you were when you walked in, but it's always better to formally introduce yourselves."

"We're looking for-"

"Information on the Bone King," she gave us a little nod. "Come with me, I'll try to tell you as much as I can."

We followed her down a path towards one the buildings made from stone. She led us inside and we followed her into a little room. Inside was only a small wooden desk, a few chairs and a shelf filled with vials and knick knacks all made of some mysterious black glass.

Odna gestured to the seats and cautiously, Ridley and I sat down. Odna sat across from us and leaned back, crossing her arms behind her head.

"I'll tell you right now, I don't know much about the Bone King," she said slowly. Ridley's shoulders sagged, I in return felt a slight prick of anger in my gut.

I glared at her. "Bull-fucking-shit. How could you not know much about him? You're clearly extremely powerful! How could you know all that stuff about me but not the Bone King-"

"Quiet yourself little one."

"Did you just call me little?!"

Ridley let out a little snort of laughter at that.

"I have to be physically close to someone to be able to psychically channel into their wavelength. The closer I am, the more I can see into their mind. For example, if you hadn't left the tunnel I wouldn't be able to know what you were thinking but since you're so close I can tell that only half your attention is on me and the other half is judging the room's decoration." She chuckled under her breath. "Honestly I expected that from you but I'm a little surprised young Ridley is only half paying attention as well."

Ridley stiffened. "Wha-what? No! I'm paying attention! I always pay attention!"

"It's not your fault dear. How could you not be at least slightly distracted? After all you've just found out that deep down you're attracted to..." she stopped, simply grinning. Ridley's entire face had gone red, and he looked absolutely mortified. "Now," Odna said, "enough about me. Let's talk about the Bone King. As I said before, I don't know much, only bits of information I've gathered from those who pass through here, like yourselves. Now, when I explain what I do know my little tangent about my powers might make more sense. As I told you...my power is limited to how close my proximity is to the person. The Bone Monster is the same way with his monsters. I would reckon the bigger the monster, the closer the Bone Monster has to be."

Ridley's eyes widened. "Wait...really? How close?"

Odna shrugged. "Judging off my own power I would say a mile or two for a small one and half a mile for a larger one."

Ridley nearly choked. "That means the Bone Monster needed to be present in the village that day to be controlling the Bone Monster!" He looked to me, his face ecstatic. "The Bone King must be able to take a human form!"

"Or he's extremely well hidden," Odna added. "And another thing I know...the Bone King can only create one Bone Monster at a time." She gave us a little shrug. "That's all I've got, sorry I couldn't offer more. We had already moved underground by the time the Bone King came into power in the east."

Ridley shook his head. "No! You've been an amazing help! This information is a game changer!"

"Oh, one more thing," I added quickly. "I don't know if you can already tell using your all seeing magic humbo jumbo or whatever, but Ridley was able to kill a Bone Monster. I'm sure you must know that's almost never been done before. We want to know how he did it."

Odna nodded slowly and then suddenly shut her eyes.

"Put your sword on the table."

Ridley blinked. "What?"

"Put the sword on the table."

Ridley cautiously laid his sword out as she asked and Odna immediately reached out, running her hands over it.

Ridley leaned forward in his seat, his eyes wide, "Is something weird about the sword?"

Odna nodded slowly. "I can sense the Bone King's presence on it."

Ridley furrowed his brow.

"That doesn't make sense...maybe whatever you're sensing is just leftover from when I killed the Bone Monster?"

Odna simply shrugged. "Or it could be why you were able to kill it." Ridley had stiffened. The Ancient continued. "Obviously I don't know for sure. That's up for the two of you to find out. I've told you as much as I can. Good luck on your future endeavors."

Ridley stood up slowly, giving yet ANOTHER bow to the Ancient.

"Thank you for your time."

Odna simply smirked.

"No problem."

"We'll be on our way now, we need to get back before the time limit runs out." Ridley turned towards the door and as I moved to stand up and follow him I suddenly felt Odna's boney hand grab my wrist.

"Not you."

I furrowed my brow. I gave my arm a little shake but her grip never faltered. "Let go of me."

Odna shook her head. "Not yet, there's something you need to hear."

I sighed, sitting back down with a little huff.

"Fine, what is it?"

"I sensed something on that sword...something about its history. I think it's important for you to know."

And that's when the Ancient told me something that changed everything.