Evony & Osric

Osric hummed a song under his breath as he trekked across the snow-spotted dirt trail, tapping his cane along the ground as he did. At some point, he thought to raise his hands one at a time, thumping the inner sides of the wrist area on each metal gauntlet, causing them to retract and shrink down, his hands now only covered by his regular leather gloves. He then continued onward, humming and smiling without a care.

Oliver hovered along beside him, occasionally turning back and scanning the area behind them before facing forward again, the sky steadily darkening above the treetops overhead.

“Sir,” the bot eventually spoke up, gently tapping a metal finger onto Osric’s shoulder. “Is it really necessary to traverse this far just to see the southern lights? You can see them from the watchtower, you know.”

“M-mm. Not the same,” Osric replied with a shake of the head.

Oliver let out an exasperated noise that sounded like a sigh from inside his metal shell.

“Oh… hush. We’re fine. We just passed by my cabin,” Osric assured him, nodding off to the side, though there was no cabin to be seen amidst the trees. “This is my trail… my little secret place… and I will not hide away from it. The whole point of having it is for peace… not for more annoyance and fear.”

“Well… I’m afraid annoyance and fear is going to hunt you down regardless of where we go, Master Azarias,” Oliver remarked. “That’s just a forever side-effect of who you are.”

“And that’s why I like my special little places , Oliver,” Osric insisted. “Where am I losing you?”

Before long, as the sunset darkened into a bluer twilight—the two of them emerged at the edge of the woods, a long, empty stretch of snow before them, and beyond this expansive snowy shore was a dark, glistening ocean, several blends of light dancing far above it all, streaks and streams of what looked like rainbows in the dark.

Osric’s mouth curled into a pleased little half-smile as he trekked toward it, marching across the expanse and slowing to a stop a few yards away from where the snow faded from the shoreline, the icy tides rolling in far ahead, and the lights of the stratosphere luminous and beautiful to behold up above.

For a long, peaceful moment, he merely stood there gazing at the majesty of it, cupping both hands over his cane.

“Go into recording mode,” Osric muttered over to Oliver. “I’d like to keep this moment, if I can.”

“Very well, sir.”

Oliver obliged, perfectly facing the southern lights and aiming his screen at them, the screen then flickering, and a feed of footage overtook it as he recorded the twilight sky.

Another moment of peace passed by, Osric simply standing and absorbing the beauty of the scene before him, Oliver perfectly still at his side as he hovered in place and recorded.

Then, just when Osric reached up to the side of his special goggles, hoping to remove them and observe the scene properly—a loud and sudden THUNK caught his attention.

He turned his head—seeing that something had just smashed into Oliver from behind with the velocity of a cannonball, knocking the tiny bot out of the air and sending his metal body rolling rapidly across the wet shore.

“Ooo… ouch,” Osric breathed, wincing and turning around.

He faced the direction from where he’d originally come—and he spotted two hooded figures standing not far away, halfway across the snowy expanse, both of them glaring at him from under their hoods, and one of them holding a large, bulky sort of firearm with a huge, wide barrel.

Osric’s mouth eased open, staring at him and feeling a faint jolt in his chest. He then glanced to the side, where Oliver lay many feet away up against a large rock, his screen dark, and the back of his round body slightly dented now.

“Reset mode,” he called out loudly to the robot.

Oliver’s screen flickered brightly, then went to a blue screen as his system began to restart.

When Osric faced the two strangers again, his dark goggles were fixated on the black, bulky firearm that the taller of the two held in his big, gloved hand.

“What is that?” Osric exhaled, taking a small step forward and tilting his head slightly, giving the bizarre firearm a look of intrigue. “Did you jus… did you just shoot him with a rock? Oh, that is fascinating … how does that work?”

“Zan kannon liven anymager, Ozrikk,” the tall armed stranger hissed in a raspy growl.

Osric then looked up, focusing on the hooded stranger’s covered face, now examining him intently.

“Oh… it is really too cold for a person like you out here,” the inventor remarked, shaking his head once.

“Zan kannon liven ,” the armed stranger repeated, jutting the big firearm at him.

“Why?” Osric inquired. “Why can’t I live any longer? I don’t believe I’ve ever done anything to you. All I’ve ever done for reptilians is help them.”

“Mikayta,” the shorter of the two strangers griped, this one with a higher voice and a quicker stride as it stepped closer.

Osric turned to the short one. “Then… what is the issue? Of what crime am I guilty of under reptilian law?”

The two hooded strangers exchanged glances with each other.

Osric read them both astutely, then made a slow, understanding nod. “Oooh… you’re not acting in accordance with the law, are you? You’re acting on your own.”

The two strangers inched steadily closer to him.

“Might I ask why?” Osric inquired, showing no sign of fear at all, though his heart was beginning to pound. “I can’t think of a reason why any member of the reptilian society should come all the way out here to the blistering cold south just to target me. Honestly… whether it’s your regular governing forces, or Alazar’s Army, or your civilians, or whoever else… none of them have a reason to target me, not at all.”

“Alazar’s plakner reston on zan,” the shorter stranger grumbled. “Hens plakner kannon happan mens zan kiel.”

Osric’s brow wrinkled, now making a thoughtful face as he allowed the reptilian’s words to sink in.

“ Really …?” he exhaled, truly taken aback. “Well, that’s a surprise. I didn’t know Alazar would ever even consider formulating a plan that relied on a human being. Even one like me. And… let me just get this straight… his plans cannot unfold if he can’t… obtain me?”

The strangers nodded.

“And the only way to prevent him from doing that is by killing me,” Osric tried to clarify. “Which… you both intend to do, because you don’t want his plans to unfold. Right?”

The strangers nodded again.

Osric straightened up and made a slow, single nod, glimpsing to the left and seeing that Oliver was still lying far away against the big rock, though his screen had just switched over to its normal green boot-up one.

“Hm. Well. Okay,” Osric uttered, patting the top of his cane. “I can’t say I don’t empathize. Alazar is a horrifying extremist to humans and reptilians alike… and I most certainly understand why you wouldn’t want any plans of his to follow through. But, see… the problem is… I was only out for a walk , my friends. And I did intend to go right back home when it was over.”

The hooded reptilians moved cautiously nearer, the taller one raising his clunky firearm and aiming it at him.

Osric swallowed, his heart hammering even harder now, and his face falling expressionless, mind racing for what else he could say, or what he should do—

“ Hey! ”

Someone else shouted from across the clearing.

The hooded reptilians whipped around, Osric staring past them—everyone gazing across the clearing at Evony, who stormed forward, slid out her .25, pulled the slide back, and aimed it squarely at the stranger wielding the bulky handgun, stopping a short distance away, blowing her hairs from her eye, and giving him a hard, serious glare.

The reptilians ogled her from beneath their hoods—and Osric took in a rushed breath as he stared across the scene at her, seizing this chance to quietly thump his knuckles against the side plates of the devices around his wrists, a rapid metal skeleton constructing around either of his hands again.

“I don’t know what your deal is—but you’re not just gonna follow someone out to the fringes and attack them for no reason,” Evony stated, giving the armed stranger a particularly disdainful look. “Put that down and walk away. Now .”

There was a long, tense pause in the blisteringly cold air.

Evony kept the taller of the two at gunpoint, her heart racing, adrenaline and anxiety spiraling up and down her, but she wore no hint of it on her face, merely glaring at the hooded man with intense resolve, her finger coiling tightly to the trigger.

The two reptilians traded subtle glimpses, their yellow eyes shifting over to one another, then back, the lower halves of their faces covered by thick scarves, and their cloaks shifting in the light wind, the larger one just beginning to move his arm now, starting to aim the bulky gun at Evony instead.

Osric glanced over at the armed one for a split second—then jutted his fist out. The barrel popped up on the knuckles of the metal gauntlet—and it shot a bright blast of sparkler fireworks.

The colorful spray hit the large reptilian in the head and burned his hood; he instantly scrambled and dropped the big handgun, hissing and howling as the firework burned his face and neck, staggering off to the side and falling—

The smaller reptilian ripped the glove off its left hand and lunged with a wicked agility—its powerful hand smashing into Osric, and its long black claws penetrating his clothes, stabbing into the skin of his chest and collar.

“Ah…”

Osric staggered slightly, nearly dropping his cane and just managing not to; he felt a wild pain spiraling up and down him from the right side of his front, three puncture wounds invaded by clawed fingers. The small reptilian loomed forward, its fingers arched, gripping him by the skin and muscle, leering into his face as its sharp, gnarled teeth clenched with anger.

While the large reptilian pressed its face to the snow to relieve its burns—Evony took a steady stride with an oddly calm cadence, despite her heart thrashing insanely, marching forward and to the left, her eyes and sights locked onto the small reptilian and inventor, moving over to get a clearer shot.

The small reptilian raised its free hand, peeled its other glove off with its teeth, and extended its claws, reaching for Osric’s throat just when—

BANG.

Evony lined up a shot without the inventor in the crossfire—and the bullet ripped through the small reptilian’s arm like tissue paper, making it freeze on the spot and stare at its suddenly wounded arm in shock.

Osric choked out a breath, visible in the freezing air, and he glimpsed to the side—only to see Oliver up and active again, soaring directly toward them.

“Oliver! Disarm!” Osric commanded, pointing over to the large reptilian, who was just getting its bearings and grabbing its big firearm again.

Oliver immediately whizzed off toward the large reptilian just when the small one let out a long, shrill scream, ripping its claws out of Osric and gripping the bleeding hole in its arm.

Osric swallowed a grunt and stumbled slightly, clasping his bloodied collar and quickly looking to Evony; they both broke into movement at once, rushing briskly away from the attackers and heading directly toward the trail in the woods.

The large reptilian turned and aimed at Evony and Osric—just when Oliver appeared in front of his face and blasted an incredibly bright light from his screen, thoroughly blinding him.

The reptilian recoiled and shielded its face—and Oliver quickly snatched the bulky handgun from it, the huge firearm hanging from the bot’s tiny metal arms as it floated away at once.

“This way… this way,” Osric panted, grabbing Evony by the arm and hurrying onto the dirt trail, just before turning his head and hollering over his shoulder. “Oliver!”

“Comi-ing!” Oliver echoed from behind them, shooting through the air toward them with a misshapen gun dangling from his tiny metal fingers.

In seconds—all of them vanished into the woodlands, leaving the two reptilians behind.

Osric kept a hard pace as he took the lead, practically dragging Evony as he trekked over the snow-spotted dirt, glancing around and seeming to be searching for something.

Eventually, Evony pulled out of his grasp and quickened her pace down the trail from where she’d come—but Osric reached out and snatched hold of her again, yanking her back and shaking his head at her.

“No, no… hold on,” he breathed.

“We need to get back to town!” Evony exclaimed, peering behind him and hoping neither reptilian was on their tail.

“No… we, um…” Osric turned to the side, facing the trees and looking up and down, as if he was scanning over an object that was not there. “We’re fine right here…”

“ What …?” Evony breathed, totally lost.

Osric then raised his cane, pointed it outright, and thrusted it forward—and the end of it collided with something, making a small, dull thump .

Evony instantly fell still, staring at the cane in utter bewilderment. It looked as if he was tapping the end of it against a wall, a wall that was simply not there; the cane was, impossibly, thumping against open air.

Osric tapped the sides of his wrists, the metal gauntlets retracting and vanishing, and then, he reached out with his gloved hand, gently sliding his fingers in between two sheets of nothingness; it appeared that he was slipping his hand into two sheets of cloth, the scenery before him folding slightly, like the gentle rolls of shifting fabric.

Evony stepped closer, narrowing her eyes at it, looking and feeling perplexed.

“I have it cloaked… and hidden… and soundproof,” he murmured, slowly moving his hand to the side and opening what appeared to be curtains of invisibility. “No safer place for us now than right here…”

He parted both sides of the invisible curtains—and behind them was a dark wooden door, splintery, old, and shut with a single rusted door handle on the side. Evony stared in astonishment, ogling the hidden door and the camouflage encompassing it, blending and mirroring the environment around it totally flawlessly. It was incredible to lay eyes on, and the longer she stared at it, the more she felt the need to blink and retrain her gaze on it, feeling as if her eyes were being tricked by a top-tier optical illusion—and yet, it remained as real as ever.

Osric turned the knob, ducked slightly beneath the invisible curtains, and stepped into a dark room on the other side of the hidden doorway, motioning for her to follow.

Evony swallowed, glancing down the trail once more, nighttime beginning to darken the woodlands, but there was still nobody on their tail, as far as she could see. She then faced the open doorway again and followed him into the mysterious enclosure, Oliver floating into it behind them.

Osric allowed her to pass, then pulled the door shut behind her, locked it, and flipped a switch on the wall—illuminating the small one-room cabin in full.

Evony paused and looked around; to her left was a small rectangular folding table against the wall, a chair on either side, and to her right was a long, slender countertop complete with a kitchenette, a plugged-in stove eye, a chrome-colored mini-fridge, and a microwave, a few cabinets above it all. Past the table and counter was a small bed in the left corner, a nightstand with a lamp and radio beside it, and across from the end of this bed was a very narrow door, which presumably led into either a closet or a tiny bathroom. The walls were covered with posters, newspaper articles, sticky notes, and random pictures taken from books and magazines, and Evony turned around in place, surveying it all interestingly for a moment.

“Well… kind stranger… welcome to one of my humble abodes,” Osric said with a long, tired sigh, moving past her and placing his cane against the wall at the end of the counter. “I apologize for our rushed meeting, no pleasantries, or introductions… but, um… well…”

He turned around to face her, offering her a smile, despite how suddenly exhausted he felt.

“I suppose we can do that now,” he determined.

Evony opened her mouth to reply, but she paused again, her eyes fixating on the right side of his collar area. Even though his overcoat and undershirt were both comprised of a dark black fabric with deeply green trim, she was still able to see the thick collections of blood around the three puncture spots atop his chest and near his collarbone.

“Um…” she muttered thoughtlessly.

Oliver placed the bulky reptilian firearm down on the table, then floated behind Osric and lingered there, his screen changing, and a small white light made of thin, wavering lines appearing from just above his screen, shining out of him and seeming to scan up and down the inventor’s body.

The bot butler’s screen then switched to a different display, showing a bar graph with labels on every bar that Evony could not make out, though one of them looked rather high.

“Health scan: diagnostic: general,” the bot butler stated, his voice harder and more robotic than normal. “Muscular and skeletal readings; minor injury, risk; minimal. Toxicity readings; normal, risk; none. Energy readings; rest levels adequate, blood levels decreasing, risk; moderate.”

“Do you mind?” Osric asked, turning and perching his brow at the bot butler. “I’m trying to talk to someone.”

Oliver’s screen turned back into his pixelated face, which now harbored a caustic expression.

“It is your protocol that I run a general health diagnostics scan if you become injured, sir,” the robot told him, his regular voice having returned. “And you’re welcome , I might add.”

Osric made a subtle face at him before turning back to Evony, flashing a polite smile once again.

“Pleasure to meet you,” the inventor said, offering his hand. “My name is Osric Azarias. And you?”

“Ah… Evony Ackerman,” Evony replied, returning the handshake, her eyes shifting between him and the robot.

“Oooh… that’s a unique name. I like it,” Osric remarked, withdrawing his hand and letting out a faint little laugh. “And… I know I don’t necessarily need to introduce myself, but I prefer the proper and polite way of doing things, even if… well… you probably already know who I am.”

Evony opened her mouth, sighing and shrugging as she flipped the safety of her gun on and slid it back into her jacket, her hand shaking just the slightest bit.

“Well… I didn’t, really… but it doesn’t matter,” she mumbled.

Osric paused, his smile waning, giving her a curious look from behind his dark goggles.

“You didn’t really?” he repeated, eyeing her questioningly.

“Well… not… not really, not for sure,” Evony replied with another shrug. “I saw you walk off into the woods at some point, and I thought you might be Osric Azarias, but I didn’t know for sure… didn’t really care.”

Osric stared, his mouth drifting agape, now gazing over at her as if she had said something truly vexing.

“Huh,” he breathed. “Didn’t care at all …?”

“Uh… no,” Evony replied. “I was kinda more focused on the fact that it looked like two weirdos were following you.”

Osric made a slow, thoughtful nod, biting his lip and giving her another long stare.

“Do you do this… often? ” he thought to ask. “Just… wander off and follow random strangers into the woods to protect them for no given reason a tall? I’m only asking because it… didn’t seem to faze you very much. Seems almost like this is an average day for you.”

“Well… it’s not like an everyday thing, but… my dad worked for a newspaper that was talking a lot about reptilians, and he wrote things about them that didn’t really fit with the main narrative about them, so… we got people following us around and threatening us sometimes,” Evony explained. “We both got pretty used to being armed, and going places together.”

“Oooh… I see,” Osric uttered, nodding mildly and glancing down, watching as her hand shook a bit by her side, her fingers fidgeting gently with the edge of her jacket.

He stared down at her hand for a moment, then raised his head again, tilting it slightly.

“Have you ever actually shot anyone before?” he wondered.

Evony swallowed, shoving her hands into her pockets. “I’m a pretty good shot. I practiced at the range all the time.”

“Right… but I don’t mean a target. I mean a person,” Osric clarified, taking a small step closer. “Was that… tonight, was that… the first time you’d ever done that?”

Evony stared off to the side, expressionless, feeling a strange, uncomfortable sensation inside, and it was waging war with the feeling of victorious empowerment. No—she had not actually shot anyone before now. The most she’d ever been forced to do before was pull the gun and scare trouble away. This was the first time she’d ever had to actually pull the trigger.

Osric read her expression, making a few more mild nods.

“Well… that reptilian will be perfectly fine,” he assured her. “I can’t imagine a single .22 round hitting it in the arm being any kind of lethal problem for it…”

“It was a .25,” Evony murmured.

“Right, okay…” Osric nodded sideways. “Well… same difference, basically. One single bullet of a tiny caliber isn’t likely to kill anyone, human or reptilian alike… not if it just wings them in the arm like that…”

Evony sighed, and there was a pause.

Osric stared at her thoughtfully, wanting to ask something, but he hesitated, simply smiling at her again.

“Thank you,” he said kindly.

Evony gulped again, facing him and letting out another breath.

“Don’t worry about it,” she uttered, turning away and shaking her head. “You don’t need to thank me for anything… that’s just what you do…”

Osric eyed her. “What’s just what who does?”

“No, that’s just… that’s just what you do ,” Evony reiterated, gesturing while she spoke. “If you see something bad going on, then you deal with it. That’s just what you do.”

Osric gave her a look of intrigue, then cracked a smirk, breathing out a laugh.

“Well… you’d be surprised how few people actually do what you just do,” he remarked. “That takes character.”

“Blood levels decreasing,” Oliver said in his hardened robotic voice. “Risk; severe.”

Evony opened her mouth and glanced at the bot for a second, then gave the inventor a look.

“Let me ask you something,” Osric said softly, not seeming to have heard his bot butler at all. “You’re new in Silverhollow, aren’t you? I expect you’ll be needing a job.”

“Ah… yeah, but…” Evony’s eyes darted between Osric and Oliver. “I think you need to…”

“How would you feel about working at the Silver Peaks Lodge?” Osric inquired.

Evony paused and sighed. “I already tried to get an application there, but the guy at the front desk kinda bit my head off and told me to go away…”

“Oooh. Well… I imagine he wants to save the available seasonal jobs for his friends,” Osric speculated, gently tapping his chin. “I believe we had that same problem with him last year. I suppose I’ll have to do something about him. But… those jobs… that’s all kitchen and janitorial work. No, I’m talking more about… assistant work.”

Evony stopped and stared, giving him a confused double-take.

“I need a personal assistant… and I haven’t been able to find anyone I can trust enough to hire for that position,” Osric explained. “But I think you’d be spectacular for it.”

“Wha… um,” she stammered. “You don’t even… you don’t even know if I’m qualified to do that.”

“I don’t care,” Osric said simply.

Evony gave him a strange look.

“You don’t even know where I came from,” she said.

“I don’t care,” Osric repeated.

“You just met me,” Evony scoffed incredulously.

“You just rescued me,” Osric responded pointedly, taking another step forward and raising his brows at her. “I don’t need someone qualified, Evony, because being a personal assistant is pretty easy to learn on the fly. What I need is someone trustworthy … and a person who would walk into danger just to help a stranger is my absolute best bet right now. Believe me.”

Evony fell speechless, totally blindsided and not knowing how to respond. Amidst the many unexpected things she’d encountered today—yet another thing she hadn’t expected was to be suddenly offered a job by Osric Azarias.

Then, she shook her head once, her eyes landing on his wound, and her thoughts returned to the more immediate issue. In fact, as her gaze ventured down, she was able to see a few thick spots of blood collecting on the wood-paneled floor beneath him now.

When Evony’s eyes traveled back up to his face, her mouth was slightly agape, and she gave him a look.

“You need to deal with that,” she said firmly, nodding at the bloody area around his collar.

“With what? Oh,” Osric uttered, reaching up and dabbing the bloody spots, wincing as he did. “Oh… that actually hurts a lot more than it did a minute ago…”

“Your adrenaline is fading, sir,” Oliver told him. “Prepare to get exceptionally lightheaded. I recommend you sit down.”

Osric let out a high laugh, sauntering closer to Evony. “Oh, I am not about to indulge that idea until I get an answer.”

“What… right now? ” Evony breathed. “I don’t…”

“You don’t know what to say… I’m sure,” Osric nodded. “But I don’t need a definite answer yet, I just hope you’ll think about it. You will, won’t you?”

“I…” Evony stuttered. “Y… okay… yeah. Definitely.”

Osric smiled and cocked his head, wearing a pleased expression and trying to straighten out in his stance, though he seemed to be wavering just the slightest bit now.

“Good,” he smirked. “Because I’m not always the impeccable genius that they depict on TV. You’d be surprised how much I really do need h…”

He opened his mouth to say more—but his knee suddenly buckled, and he tottered forward and collapsed.

Evony’s heart skipped; she reached out and just barely managed to catch him before he could hit the floor.