Team Spartan E7 (Present 2/6)

Chapter 2 – Drunk

The overwhelming sun struck Mycaelis harder than one of his father’s punches. Like a vampire emerging from its den, Mycaelis hissed and staggered back against the wall of the café. The sun’s brightness was a harsh contrast when compared to the dim and gloomy wake of the café’s interior. Struggling, Mycaelis forced open his eyes, failing to realise that they had had begun to turn bloodshot in course with the amount of alcohol he had consumed.

“Shit…”he hissed, suddenly feeling unusually weak. His breathing was haggard and a sudden lapse in his strength forced him to lean against the café wall for support. He hated this. He hated feeling weak. It was now that he could see why his father had forbade other members of his former clan from consuming alcohol. It made even the strongest and smartest of them bumbling and helpless fools.

Mycaelis eyed his surroundings. His vision was hazed, his sunken eyes adjusting to the re-introduced harshness of the sunlight. The remaining villagers of Tao had scattered themselves amongst the town. Mycaelis at first made attempts to estimate their numbers, but the signs of a forming headache quickly made him stop. He simply accepted the fact that there were many of them and left it at that.

However, he was able to notice something distinct about most of them. Most of the ‘mons he saw all had, in their possession, a roll of parchment. Some wept as they read them, others huddled close around each other and read together, and some bore smiles so wide, Mycaelis at first thought them to be mad clowns.

“The fuck?” Mycaelis pushed himself off the side of the café and began to stumble towards the centre of the village. His movement gave the impression of a crazed zombie. He was still gathering his wits and would have failed at doing so, completely were it not for the voice of a child that came to his side.

“Mycaelis! Mycaelis!” Kareena, as swift as the wind, was at his side. She nudged his belly, to prop him up straight. From her prospective, it was clear that her adopted father-figure wasn’t doing too well. “Where have you been? Are you alright?”

Mycaelis almost leapt back in surprise, but managed to maintain enough sense to keep himself from doing so.  “Ah, Kareena!”

The mere sight of her was enough to partially erase the daze Mycaelis had drunk himself into. He had almost completely forgotten about her. All this time he had thought her to be in the care of Leon. For reasons he could not fathom, he trusted Leon more with Kareena than he did with his own brother.

“Are you sick?” Kareena’s sky-blue eyes were writhe with concern. She seemed the same as any other child when confronted with the rare sight of their role model in the midst of an alcohol fueled breakdown.

“I’m fine,” reassured Mycaelis, doing his best to find his normal tone. He couldn’t let her see him like this. He was certain it wouldn’t do him any justice. “J-just tired from…training.”

Kareena cocked her head to the side. “Since when have you ever been tired from training?” She threw a look over at the Spinda Café. “And since when did you start using the café as a place to train?”

Mycaelis growled. Kid was too bloody smart. Smarter than he was. He scowled and spat a trail of excess saliva onto the ground. “Never mind,” he kept his frustration from creeping into his tone. “Do you know what’s going on, Kareena?”

“You mean that you don’t?” Kareena appeared completely rattled by the concept of Mycaelis not knowing something that she did. “A-are you sure you’re feeling okay? I mean…everyone does.”

A cluster of curse words echoed within Mycaelis mudded mind. He cursed himself for being so out of it. Did he really look this bad?
“Just…tell me,” panted Mycaelis, growing increasingly disorientated. He felt a sudden need to sit down; else he would puke while standing.  He promptly failed to sight any unoccupied benches in the vicinity and simply chose to ignore his own feelings.

“Letters!” squealed Kareena. “Shroomy and Mr. Callahan have found letters from those who went missing. He’s been handing them out to everyone!” The words were too much for Mycaelis to bare. He couldn’t stand any longer. He felt his warrior prided legs give way as they failed him.  He lay gazing up at the sun in a daze, wondering if he could sleep for a bit and inquire on Shroomy about these letters later.

“Hey! Hey!” Kareena was quickly at his side and nudging him to get up. “What are you doing? Get up.”

A growl escaped Mycaelis while he ignored the throbbing pain that was beginning to form in his head. “Alright, alright,” he moaned. The nap would have to wait. He had to speak to Shroomy, no matter what he was feeling.

Mycaelis breathed deep and turned to Kareena with a restored complexion. He had to force out whatever sense he still had with him.  “Kareena.” Mycaelis rose to his legs and held her close. “I need you to find Leon. He has to know about this too. I’ll meet you back home. Now, go.” He gave her a gentle shove and watched her dash a few paces.

Kareena’s departure did not begin there. She stopped and gazed back at Mycaelis with a smile. She seemed glad to see the Mycaelis she had always known was still there. She had her orders and could take solace in the fact that Mycaelis was still fit enough to make them.

By the time Mycaelis had risen from the ground, Kareena was but a white dot in the distance as he travelled with the furious speed her deceased brothers once had.