’Shit, shit, shit!’
Axel found himself helplessly staggering back as the shaking goblin charged at him with its sword raised.
"Kreee!"
His arm stung. But he willed it up, preparing to receive another blow. But... would he be lucky a second time? The first strike had caught on the zipper... would the second?
Just before Axel could find that out, he felt a warm hand clasp his shoulder and yank him back. He almost felt relief, but a moment later, he watched as his savior merely traded places with him.
’W-wait!’
Axel wasn’t light in the slightest — especially not when compared to the kind man, a full head shorter than him.
The same man who’d given him the jacket was now helplessly tumbling toward the goblin.
’No!’
As Axel fell on his ass, his eyes darted left and right, but none were coming to help. Most were running away, while some began charging, but stopped the moment they got within ten paces of the otherworldly creature.
The goblin tilted its head slightly. Then, its jagged teeth twisted into a sinister smile as it directed its attack at the kind man.
Pushing at the ground, Axel watched as the kind man shifted his weight and rolled under the attack.
’Y-yes!’
The kind man caught the goblin’s arm mid-roll and twisted, causing the little thing to drop its weapon.
Though the goblin seemed to pay the loss no mind.
Instead, it opened its nasty maw unnaturally wide and clamped it around the kind man’s forearm.
"Argh!"
Finally gathering his bearings, Axel rushed to his rescue...
But he was a half-step too late.
The goblin’s jaw and teeth were meant for piercing... and severing.
After its teeth sunk to the man’s bone, it began to wriggle its head side to side like a shark.
Until a deafening crunch sailed through the Obsidian Forest. Followed by the mushing and tearing of muscle from muscle and tendon from bone. And screams...
"Fuck! Shit!"
The goblin had severed the man’s arm at the forearm — his detached hand sitting terrifyingly neatly in the goblin’s slimy mouth.
Axel paused at the horrifying sight.
"I— Uh—"
"Snap out of it!"
The handsome blond man ran by Axel and dropkicked the goblin, causing it to drop the man’s severed arm.
Shocked back into reality, Axel descended upon the kind man, then began dragging him away from the carnage.
The man grimaced, each breath leaving him in a pained hiss.
Eventually, far away from the goblin, Axel set the man down.
"W-why?! Why did you do that?!"
The kind man weakly forced open his eyes, then said:
"Pansies like you really piss me off..."
"Huh?"
With blood steadily flowing from his wound, the man bit his lip, then cried:
"I just tripped while saving your sorry ass. I don’t plan on dying... but it seems likely. So, could you set me down and get out of the way? I don’t want your ugly mug to be the last thing I see."
Axel shifted away, then softly asked:
"But... why?"
The kind man had pain deeply etched in his face. He spoke fast and panted after each breath:
"Didn’t do it from kindness. I did it because I saw my past self... in you. So mentally fragile, so mentally abused — resulting in a truly crazed man. Ha. And well, you see, I just happen to be a pretty empathetic person."
Crazed? Similar to him?
Had he made some wild misconception about Axel in his mind?
Axel didn’t know a single thing about him, and the kind man knew nothing about Axel.
’D-did he mistake me for someone?’
Perhaps that was the reason he helped him in the first place.
Despite saying nothing aloud, the kind man responded as if reading Axel’s mind.
"No, fucker. I don’t know you, nor care to know you. But the way you... never mind. Just know I have a pretty good eye for people just like me."
The kind man shook violently in pain.
Axel could only marvel at his grit and determination.
But then again...
’Maybe the pain is causing him to spout this nonsense.’
"Shit!"
The kind man’s sudden shout sent shivers down Axel’s spine.
"Stop being a useless dumbass and tie a damned tourniquet on my bicep already! Apply pressure! And all of you assholes watching, at least try and get a fire going! This wound won’t close on its own!"
A nearby woman with long brown hair shouted.
"R-right!"
She turned and began fidgeting.
"I have a lighter."
"Uh— oh? Really! Someone, go get wood!"
While that was happening, Axel found his bloody shirt nearby and began tearing it into a long strip, wrapping it around the kind man’s left bicep as tightly as he could.
When he finally finished, the man shook, then said:
"You all are really trying to kill me here..."
Axel glanced over at the handsome man, who was handily beating the ever-living shit out of the small goblin.
Though his eyes quickly drifted back to his savior.
"At least tell me your name."
The man, growing paler, said:
"I’ll tell you later."
The kind man closed his eyes and focused on regulating his breathing as the smell of a small fire started to tingle Axel’s nose, begging his attention. When he looked toward it, he found the brunette looking at him while holding a hefty log that had a smoldering end.
"H-here..."
"Wait..."
"Hurry!"
The woman shoved the log in Axel’s hand.
’Why me...’
Maybe it had to be him. The man was dying because of saving him.
Axel recoiled, but with each passing second, the kind man grew weaker.
Wielding the surprisingly light log, Axel lifted the man’s left arm, then closed his eyes and mashed the charred end against the open flesh.
The man began to scream and squirm.
"AARRGH—"
But those screams were quickly stifled as some of the bystanders locked down his joints and someone shoved a thick handkerchief in his mouth as a gag.
The man who had the lighter knelt, placed a hand on his chest, and began chanting:
"O beloved Ezili Danto..."
Others stayed focused on prepping another log and keeping the fire going.
Two minutes of the horrid affair passed before Axel pulled the stick away, only to be greeted by the cackling and bubbling of melting flesh — flesh that had various wooden splinters meshed within the wound.
But they had no time to contemplate potential future infections; they only needed to create a stopgap for now.
True treatment could come later. And, sadly...
The wound was not yet sealed.
Axel threw the log to the side, then stretched his hand out.
"Another!"
The brown-haired woman handed him another charred one.
Biting his tongue, Axel took it in hand, then resumed.