Irium

"Sure, but first," they look at me with caution-filled eyes wondering what I"d say, "What"s your name, the-guy-that-is-not-Jock-san?"

"Rome." He answers with caution-filled-eyes that are also a bit condescending now.

"I see. So, Rome, I am what you call a hater of Dues ex machina. And I can bet that I hate her more than any of you."

"Tsk! Bulls.h.i.t!" Rome says with an annoyed expression, "You are her errand boy!"

"I am not." Seriously, I am not, and nothing vexes me more than being called that. "I am, however, running her errands for a specific purpose."

"Oh yeah, like what?"

"Thousands of people will suffer if I don"t do as she says or fail at doing so."

While the reason this all started with was different, the whole denying her action thing, it is a fact that everyone on Glice is now a hostage and a big reason why I am doing this.

"… How can I believe you?" Rome asks. A little less caution than before is present in his eyes, thankfully.

"I can"t show you proof. But, it"s the truth." I say so with a smile, predicting accurately what he will say next.

"Then I can"t trust-"

"SO, show me your proof that you are actually against Dues and are not testing me somehow." I say, cutting him off and trying to make him realize how I feel on being called her "errand boy".

"…" He just looks at me with anger and frustration for a moment. In this moment, I take a glance at Jock, who is ready to attack me. Fighting both of them might bring trouble to me so I really hope Rome decides to stop being hostile to me.

"Die, you heretic!" Jock yells and starts charging towards me but,

"Stop, Jock!" Rome says what I wanted him to say. "For the moment, we should stop being hostile to him."

Jock looks back in doubt but Rome seems to have made his decision. Jock then backs away too and they both look at me from a distance of, like, 2 meters.

"We"ll keep an eye on you."

"We"ll watch your every move."

They say that in such sync as if they have practiced saying it, and then they disappear like some ninjas. People acting like ninjas, huh? That brings some rather unwanted memories.

Anyway, now that I am done with them, I take a look at the fire. Despite the townsfolk trying to their d.a.m.ned hardest to stop it, it doesn"t seem to be stopping. In fact, it"s spreading. It has spread so much that, while the house it originated from has been burned to crisps, three other houses have caught fire. It"s also rapidly approach the inn I am staying at.

I should probably run up, get my stuff, jump off the window and leave. That"s the least risky option at this point. But,

"Don"t panic! This fire will be dealt with." A yell by Rome catches my attention. When I try to find out where his voice came from, I spot Jock on the top of a house that has caught the fire. Rome then comes in my sight; he is standing on the chimney on another house that has caught fire.

He turns to Jock and Jock nods as he jumps off the house and into the fire. I think about stopping him, but before I can do much, Jock appears again, standing in the middle of the fire, completely unharmed. Like everyone else gathered in the place, I just stand there and watch the rest of the show as Jock somehow starts pulling all the flames towards him like some kind of psychic. When all the flames are surrounding him, he just casually stands there as Rome jumps off the chimney and lands in front of him. Rome proceeds to touch the flames, making them die out.

"What just happened?" I ask, trying to look unsurprised.

"I think those two belong to the Temple of Temur." I man says from the crowd.

"What the h.e.l.l is the Temple of Temur?" I ask him. He looks surprised. I don"t know if he is surprised because of my appearance or because I didn"t know what this Temple is but he doesn"t answer backs away.

Suddenly, the rest of the crowd around me starts backing away as well. At first, I think it"s because of something I did but upon turning back, I realize it"s because Rome has walked up to me.

"Temple of Temur is a sacred sect dedicated to the worship of the one and only true G.o.d. We stand against Dues ex machina." Rome says. He looks like he"ll say something detrimental to me so I whisper as naturally as I can,

"Don"t say something that"d make people wary of me."

He looks at me with a disappointed gaze but then says, "Don"t come in our path or we will kill you."

I am pretty sure that is a real warning but at least the people would interpret it as "they threatened him so he probably isn"t a.s.sociated with them either" or something like that, which would be beneficial to me.

Rome then turns back and starts walking, and so does Jock. Well, don"t these two love acting like a couple of bada.s.ses? Still, I have to say that the abilities to control flames and to put them out are some pretty handy abilities. If we were enemies, I"d definitely steal them. But since I am not an enemy of them (at least I don"t think I am), I"d rather have them running around and acting all cool as it can help me in the future.

"Young man," An old woman comes and says, "You really didn"t know what the Temple of Temur is?"

"I did not."

"I-I see. Then you couldn"t be one of them." She says, looking relieved. "I am sorry. I, and the rest of the townsfolk, were scared that you"d be one of them because a man that looked to be from your race had come to this town some years ago, and he was a.s.sociated with them."

Well, that shouldn"t be accounts for suspecting me but that is how ma.s.s psychology works so I can"t blame them. I am interested though.

"A man from my race, you say?"

"Yes. I don"t remember much about him as he never really familiarized himself with any of us." She continues, "But, he did say that he has a grudge against something called Remedy Corporation and that he wanted to get back on those who make fun of him for his birdlike appearance."

*****