Corrupt

"One Firecracker, one Fizzy, and one Water. Now, do you care to explain to me what this is?"

After Zig handed us our drinks, he hit us with the question that was kind've hard for us to explain. I quickly turned to Xylvia since she was the one that said that we should talk to Zig.

"Well…I was kind've hoping that you'd help us out with that," Xylvia said. "You're older and wiser than all of us, so we figured that you might know something."

I looked back over at Zig.

"Well, I do have an idea as to what this thing is, but if it is that, then that doesn't really make any sense," Zig answered. "These things have been dead for a very long time."

"Not all of us," Wanderer said after taking a sip of water. "We secluded ourselves in a secret place that nobody goes to. Not a lot of us are left, but we're not extinct."

"It talks? Must be a quick learner."

"So you do know what it is?" Xylvia said.

"Yep," Zig nodded. "They go by quite a few names. Wanderers. Searchers. Mimics. Demons."

"The 'Demon' one is new to me." Wanderer said.

"People weren't nice back then."

"So where did you come from," I asked. "I mean, if you don't mind me asking."

"Honestly, I don't know," Wanderer answered. "In fact, no one knows. We're just…there, existing in a world that we don't even know much about. I'd like to think that we have a purpose, but we all just feel so…empty inside. And this emptiness…you can never fill it up. We try to find a purpose. We try to act like people. We try to say that we are people. We try to make ourselves. We try to speak, laugh, cry, and even think. We've even tried to die. But we could never understand it. The concept of emotions; of life; of death; of a purpose; we could never learn what it meant. We pretend to be something that we're not and we fail to learn the things that you guys human."

That's quite a horrible life to live. Being born in a world where you don't even know if you matter in it. Destined to never find a purpose. And then, when your will power has vanished, die without anyone their to even mourn for you.

"I apologize for my tangent," Wanderer said with a frown. "Anyways, there's a man that's after Hiro and he apparently has a plan against that."

"Someone's after you already," Zig groaned. "Man, I thought that whole incident was behind us."

"Never in my life did I think that I'd ever be hunted down because of someone else's kink." I said.

"To be fair, it was a pretty nasty kink." Xylvia added.

"You trying to take the man's side now? *sigh…* Anyways, my plan is to have Xylvia and I take turns staying up and making sure that this man doesn't sneak up on us," I said to Zig. "We also want to find Wanderer a place to stay until this situation gets sorted out. We don't want that man luring him out, so hiding him is probably our best bet. When the man realizes that Wanderer hasn't said anything about me yet by whatever means of communication, he'll come here. He most likely knows where we live, but we'll be ready for that. And finally, once we catch him, we'll try to talk it things out."

Zig took a minute to digest everything I said. It was a lot, but he seemed to get the gist of everything.

"Words over violence eh," Zig smiled. "Not as eventful, but probably is the more smarter option. However, we can't have Wanderer staying here. That could cause even more problems."

"What kind of problems?" I asked.

Zig took a minute before he whispered:

"Pretend like you dropped something then take a look behind you. Make sure it's a brief, quick look."

He was serious. The expression on his face went from curious to concerned, almost like he was…afraid. I did what he said and dropped a fork that was sitting right next to me. And when I bent down to pick it up…

"…"

*Cling.*

I quickly realized it. The only noise I had heard came from the metal fork hitting the polished wooden floor. One thing that I knew for sure was that this place was packed with people when we first arrived here with Wanderer.

"Hey, Zig…" Xylvia quietly muttered. "Everyone, quickly get to the kitchen," Zig whispered to us. "Do not try to talk to them or even look at them. Just…walk."

*Flick!* *CHINK!*

The sound of air being torn through whizzed past my ear. A small butter knife was sticking out of the wall of the bar that I was knelt down next to.

*SPLURT!*

A tiny spray of blood shot out from my cheek. My opened flesh exposed to the cool air in this building brought an annoying stinging sensation. I instantly shot up, suddenly realizing that everyone sitting at a table was holding something that had some sharpness to it.

"Get back here kid!" Zig shouted as he dragged me by the shoulder backwards behind the bar table. Before I landed on the ground, I was able to catch a brief glimpse of hundreds of those sharp objects being launched straight at me. I don't know what surprised me more. The sudden mood change from the crowd, or Zig's quick reaction.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked Zig frantically after processing what just happened.

"The corruption got to them again," Zig explained. "Something that you should know is that there are some people who really hate Wanderer's kind. And we're unfortunate enough to end up with a room full of them."

"What the hell happened back then?! What did Wandered's people do?! Wanderer, do you know?!"

"No, I don't," Wanderer said, shaking his head quickly. "I lived in a small area in the Painted Forrest. Nobody goes there, so I was always safe with a small group. But we never did anything to anyone. I didn't even know that this place existed."

"That doesn't matter right now," Zig said, dragging us into the kitchen. "For now, I'm locking us inside this kitchen."

Zig hurled us all into the kitchen before diving inside himself. A barrage of various utensils and other sharp objects were littered right behind him. He quickly slammed the door shut and threw down the metal bar to lock it.

*BANG!* *BANG* *CLING!* *BANG!*

Loud bangs echoed from the mob's fists and weapons pounding at the door. Luckily, it looked sturdy enough to hold them back.

"That door is made of a fine metal material," Zig confirmed. "No chance in hell that they're getting through."

Though the continuous bangs that the mob continued made me feel a little skeptical, I trusted Zig's judgement.

*SLAM!*

My head became a swivel for a split second when I heard that noise. What I saw was Xylvia holding Wanderer by the neck with her hand, her nails stretching out like tiny daggers were etching closer and closer to his flesh.

"What the hell did you do to result in people getting this pissed off at you," Xylvia hissed at him. "TALK, or I'll make it so that you can never talk again."

"I…told you already," Wanderer choked out through Xylvia's grasp. "I don't…know…"

"I guess the answer should be obvious. What you did to us the minute we saw you. All those people… How many did you infect?"

"Infect," I repeated. "Xylvia, what are you going on about?"

"I want you to think about it for a second Hiro. These people have some history with Wanderer's kind. What kind of history was it though? There's no record of a war. However, there is one of a new species that was discovered many centuries ago. At first, I thought Wanderer was just it's name, but it's actually the name of its species. And these species happened to have appeared around the same time that the Unknown appeared."

I knew exactly where she was going with this, however-

*SHCLACK!* *SLAM!*

Veiny splotches of what looked like tiny arms spilled out from Wanderer's hand. They were an ugly shade of purple and red with drips slowly spilling from it. At the end of the gross concoction was the shape of a hint hand holding Xylvia by the face at the wall. I could see blood slowly dripping down from where her face is covered, her eyes, the only part of her face that wasn't covered, watering from the pain she was feeling.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" Zig roared, unleashing his claws and charging straight at Wanderer. A golden aura engulfed his entire body as he moved at lightning speed.

*SLAM!*

However, he too was met with a giant hand slamming him into the other side of the wall. He bled a little from the mouth, but he looked to be ok.

""Wh-What the hell," I muttered after seeing this sudden display. "Wanderer, what the hell are you doing?"

"I'm knocking some sense into this stupid Felinian," Wanderer hissed. "I'm getting sick and tired of dealing with her nonsensical claims. But this one, this one; I won't let this one slide. I won't let her stand there and talk badly about my people."

I found it pretty hard to find the right words to say. Screaming at him probably wasn't the right move and trying to calmly talk to him would probably be seen through quite easily. I did have an idea though.

"You care to explain then?" I asked him.

"What do you mean?" Wanderer asked.

"Xylvia was making a great point until you decided to stop her. How about instead of hurting people, you explain to us why she's wrong in the first place."

"…"

Wanderer slowly began to lower Zig and Xylvia down to their feet. He let Zig go, but kept his grip on Xylvia.

"I don't trust her." Wanderer hissed, giving Xylvia a menacing look.

"Ok, but just please don't hurt her." I said.

Xylvia gave me a look, but Zig and I both reassured her and told her not to try anything stupid. She responded by rolling her eyes and groaning.

"I haven't been around for very long, but I've listened to stories from some of my people," Wanderer began. "We don't know where we came from, how we were born, or anything really, but you already know that. However, we were treated kindly by a neighboring race. They had pointed ears, wore light clothing that looked to be handmade, and they always seemed to be traveling places."

"Elves…" Zig muttered. "Y-You've met Elves?"

"No, not me. Like I said, I haven't been here for very long. However, my people have relics and old treasures from the Elves. We would go and explore places and bring them back things to trade. I'm not sure how valuable those old items are, but we do value them quite a lot."

"Do these people still exist?"

"Only one does, but we haven't seen him in cycles. He or she has probably already found a host, so they could be anywhere at this point."

"Wait, when was all this," I asked. "Your people meeting the Elves?"

"That was many many Galleries ago. Way before even the Corruption came to this world."

"But, how is that possible. You said that you haven't been around for a while and that you were close to dying."

"We may not understand how emotions or thoughts work, but that doesn't mean we don't feel them. What keeps us alive isn't food or water or shelter or even love, but it's our will to continue living. They may have never understood the concept of willpower, but they felt it and never forgot that feeling. That's what drove them to live for this long. But for me, I gave up because I just couldn't understand it. And that was what almost got me killed."

I noticed Xylvia starting to gently tap on Wanderer's giant hand. He turned to find her staring into his eyes. It wasn't a menacing stare however. There was no malice or hatred to be found in her eyes. Her eyes had a lighthearted feeling emanating from them. Her eyes seemed to be her way of saying "I understand now."

They both stared at each other for a bit until Wanderer decided to let her go. Xylvia wiped the blood off her busted lips before letting out a small sigh.

"I'm sorry, Xylvia, for everything," Wanderer said, the mass of splotchy veins returning back inside his body. "I never wanted to hurt anyone. I just wanted to be a person, someone who could understand what all of these feelings circulating through me meant."

"I guess I should apologize to," Xylvia replied. "You didn't really do anything bad, yet I tried to kill you. I just…couldn't understand why I you did what you did, so I got frustrated…and a little heinous at you."

"That I understand. In fact, I know a lot about you."

"What do you mean?"

"When I first looked at you, back at the alleyway, I could see a part of you. I only peaked a little, but I know what's troubling you. However, I don't know the cause of it. Though, I guess that's best to be left with yourself as well as the people you trust."

Woah, that's cool. Hella creepy, but still pretty cool.

"Well, now that you guys have resolved your issues, we should probably get back to the plan." Zig reminded us.

"That's right," I exclaimed. "Zig, is there anyway for us to get out of here?"

There's a cellar that goes underground for a few stretches until you find a staircase back up," Zig said, leading us to a metal trapdoor. "You'll find yourself inside a small shack that's mostly used to hold tools or holiday signs. Do you know where you'll go?"

"I know where we want to go, but it'll be Xylvia taking me since I'm not sure where she is." I said.

"Well, whoever they are, I sure hope that she doesn't have any toughs with Wanderer."

"Same here. Anyways, good luck to you."

"Feelings mutual kid. Hopefully these guys have finally calmed down."

"Hey Zig, will it be safe for us to come back to work?" Xylvia asked.

"I'd give it a week. You'll get paid leave, but for now, just try to lay low for a bit. Need to let the Corruption in them wash out of their wires. Things should be back to normal after that."

After Zig undid all the locks, he lifted the metal door open. Candlelights began to flicker on, probably from some magical mechanism, and revealed a visible passageway. We could already see the stairway leading back up to surface level from where we were standing.

"Sounds good Zig," Xylvia resumed. "Sorry for burdening you like this."

"Just an unfortunate circumstance is all it is," Zig reassured. "No need to worry. Besides, I've got plenty of staff, so I won't need to worry if I'm missing a few set of hands."

"Alright then, see you when this whole mess gets taken care of."

We all said our goodbye's to Zig before we made our escape. When the hatch closed, I could hear Zig hollering at the people outside the door.

"The fuck are you all in a frenzy for," Zig barked at them. "You wanna drink?! Aight, then get your wallets out!"

"Sounds like he's got things under control." I smirked at Xylvia.

"Nothing scares that man, I swear." Xylvia sighed with a little smile on her face.

Wanderer remained silent, keeping his head down as he listened to us conversing with each other. Though it was a little hard to see, I could make out a nice smile on his face. I couldn't help but smile as well.

"Are you sure that this is a good idea Hiro," Xylvia asked me yet again after we left the shed. "I do agree that she's probably our best shot, but I'm still worried."

"We're not gonna put her in any danger or anything, we're just gonna have Wanderer stay there," I reassured her. "Besides, I'm certain that this man won't know who she is. Right, Wanderer?"

"I'm certain as well," Wanderer agreed. "He told me himself that he knows nothing about this city. Just you and the goddess is about it. However, who exactly am I going to be staying with?"

"So what brings you here, darling~? Wait, hold on. You're not gonna drag me across the road again are you?"

"Relax, I'm not here to do that again, yet," Xylvia said, a little emphasis on the "yet." "Rosary, we need your help."