living in the uneventful city of hereford often meant two things; nothing happens and when something does happen, everyone knows.
that's why the news of a mysterious stranger in town spread so fast. you heard girls talking about the stranger at your work in a local café, speaking about how he apparently started a fight when he was spotted for the first time. three people had gotten injured as result of it and the stranger left completely untouched, as if he wasn't involved, though they said the fight was a truly violent one, but it wasn't started by the stranger.
you were spending your night at a nearby bar, needing a distraction from the daily struggles of life and there clearly wasn't any better distraction than getting wasted. well, perhaps there were, but you weren't interested. alcohol did its job and you weren't going to fight it about that.
the uneventful city of hereford looked like it'd be eventful for once. you were on your third round of shots when you heard the whispers around you increase at the same time as the door opened. it wasn't difficult to tell who it was that both entered and caused the increasing whispers.
you decided to put your suicidal drinking tendencies aside to watch whatever scene was about to unfold. that was't the best decision, you thought, as you just looked at the stranger in time to catch him take a knife out of his pocket.
although the sight would make any other person fear for their life, you were interested in seeing what this mysterious stranger would do, watching him stalk towards a group of what appeared to be bikers, all of them as wasted as it could be without being too out of touch with their senses.
you weren't sure what the stranger said. he talked more with his knife than with his mouth and you could swear he said something about how they should be happy he wasn't carrying a spear, as he could do far more damage with that. it was quite the scene, you had to admit that, but you weren't afraid for some reason as you just watched it all unfold.
one of the bikers seemed to have gotten tired of the stranger's cocky attitude. while you couldn't hear the entire conversation, when the stranger was asked who the hell he thinks he is, you could clearly hear him answer that he's sure he's sergio. the biker was only further annoyed by the answer as he continued to ask if he thinks he's the god of war.
sergio's answer came in the form of a knife being thrown into the air before being caught again. within the blink of an eye, the sharp end of the blade was pressed against the biker's throat as sergio wore a smirk on his face, clearly satisfied with how easy it was to strike fear into the heart of someone who not only thinks they're all that, but also doubted him. before he actually did any damage, sergio pulled away the knife and thanked the entire bar for their attention.
you were fascinated by how the man appeared to be so indifferent towards the entire situation, but also seemed to be enjoying it a little too much. almost as if he did this on the regular, but had never grown tired of the responses he receives. you could hear a group of gurls behind you whisper about how one of them saw the stranger do the exact same thing a few days ago when he was first witnessed in town and that seconds later a fight erupted. you smiled at that little fact, curious to find out if that would also be the case tonight.
before you actually had the time to ponder about that, the screams of multiple people filled the room. several others ran away immediately while you, with your back turned to the entire event, just continued to sat there and quietly listened to the sounds of what could be an assault or murder, but you knew exactly where it was coming from. better yet, you knew who it was coming from and that brought a smile to your face.
once you thought everything was done , you finally turned around to the sight of several bodies scattered across the floor, some more lifeless than the other, some showing more signs of struggles than the rest, and right in the middle of those corpses was a man with a spear and a helmet. when you blinked though, the helmet was gone and the spear was replaced by a bloody knife.
the mysterious stranger had his back turned to you as he grabbed the half empty bottle of whatever from the table and checked the label on the back for something. when it was apparently deemed as good enough, you watched in silence, but no fear as he poured the liquid all over the floor and took a lighter out of his picket.
you considered standing up finally, but you didn't. the stranger, who called himself both sergio and the god of war, turned around to you as he dropped the lighter to the floor. his expression was unreadable as he remained in the middle of the fire and you both watched the room be engulfed in fire without saying a single thing. only a nod, acknowledging that whatever happened tonight, you both understood.
by the time the fires reached you, you had fallen asleep. when you woke up again, you found yourself in the same bar with as only background music the sirens of an ambulance. the bartender was still in front of you making his cheap drinks.
when you asked what had happened after the fire, as you vividly remembered the place burning down to ashes, he shook his head and said there was no fire. you asked what the ambulances were for and he pointed towards the table where the group of bikers were seated, seated underneath a statue of a vulture. it appeared that the spear that hung on the wall had dropped and pierced one of the bikers before also the vulture dropped on top of the same guy's head. it was the exact same guy who had been bothering sergio earlier.
remembering sergio's promise that he was far more dangerous with a spear, you smiled, knowing that this would be his work. perhaps he truly is the god of war.
