Algernon Black || The Rise of a God ||

(Chapter 75) Death Grip

Beal walked the streets of Tipperary alone and in unwashed clothes reeking of sweat. A city not too far from the small village he grew up in, but drastically different in the way everyone ignored each other. He wasn't wandering aimlessly for long though as a woman approached him.

"You poor thing," She cooed, with a roll of bread in her hands. "Are you lost?"

Beal shook his head no. "Are you by yourself?" She pressed.

Beal nodded. She grinned down at him and handed him the bread. Beal accepted the offering. "Not anymore," She declared, offering down her hand next. Beal accepted that as well and followed her a few miles to an old tavern on the edges of the city. Upon entering a friendly bell chimed a greeting as the rancid stench of fermenting beer and men plunged into Beal's nose. He almost gagged as the woman told him to stay put and went to sit next to a man. Negotiating something Beal couldn't overhear, she whispered into his ear and he turned around to eye Beal indecisively.

"Gentlemen!" Loy loudly cheered, entering the pub with his own stench of alcohol adding to the mix. "It's been quite some time," He smiled with his arm around a very meek Selice, bare of her charmed necklace and in very womanly clothing to show off her figure. "But this grand smell of filth never changes."

Most of the day's patrons looked aversely on but the man at the bar who had been negotiating recognized the prince.

"Loy," He broadcasted, looking at the prince apprehensively, but when he saw the pretty woman under his arm, chuckled. "Looks like you haven't changed at all either."

Loy smirked. He knew Farris as a man he had shared drinks with more than a few times in the past. A past that seemed like a lifetime ago and was filled with men that a very naive and young prince couldn't yet properly accesses. "Why change perfection?" Loy jested and was handed a mug of beer by the bartender.

"Why indeed," Farris agreed with a forced smile.

"I'll eat you!" A man's voice, which sounded more like a beast than a man, yelled. Everyone in the vicinity turned to see what the commotion was about.

"Sir, please stop bothering the cat." The local pub owner cooly corrected, taking the completely calm animal away.

"Me? Bothering him!" The bulk of a man bellowed."Do you see the way he's looking at me! So smug!"

"It's a cat, sir." The bar hand dryly replied. "They're smug by nature."

"Stupid cat." The man muttered, eyeing the feline as he downed a beer to dull the disrespect. Beal gawked at the sheer size of the man, seemingly three times his height, and triple his body mass. He had almond-shaped dark blue eyes in blaring contrast to his iron hide skin that looked as impenetrable as armor. Silver and gold knuckle rings flashed on his hands, but whatever design on them originally had been tampered out.

"It seems Cal hasn't changed either," Loy sighed, getting the attention of the brute.

"Loy," Cal accused walking over with his broad shoulder squared.

"Cal." Loy affectionately called with his lopsided grin on full display, which Cal impulsively swung at. Loy pushed it aside where it promptly broke apart a nearby table.

"Cal here has an unnatural ability," Loy spoke to Selice, as they watch him rip a nail from the table out of his hand, unphased. "He's too stupid to feel pain."

Cal's eyes, alive with anger, locked on Loy, but when he noticed Selice he flushed white. "You brought a lady here!" Cal flustered in a complete change of attitude. "What are you doing!" He yelled, completely flipping attitudes once again, and grabbing Loy's shirt to viciously shake him. "Imagine the kind of horrible acts of violence she could see here!" Cal scolded, slamming Loy into a nearby wall and seeing nothing contradictory about it.