The Reason We Run

The Start of a Bad Joke

Owen watches with a sinister smile as Krow tumbles over the edge of the platform and into the water below. He looks into its eyes, or rather, where he assumes its eyes are, and follows them as it descends. He watches it take one last desperate breath as it falls head first into the water, splitting the surface with a crack before finally slipping under.

Though it was beaten horribly, and though it wasn't by any means the hardest battle that he's won, he was glad it fought. Glad that the grand finale of his escapade was a grand one indeed. He smiles. A big toothy child-like grin at the murky water below, now slightly tinged with red. He feels a surge of inexplicable pride.

That's it. He's done it. Every single demon in the clearing, the last of the disease that infested the place. Dead and gone.

It's almost satisfying in a way. Like ticking the last "to-do" off of a list. Like finally getting a particularly nasty stain off of an otherwise spotless surface. Like finally finishing a project after long grueling hours of work. He scans the floor and finds his sword, which had been discarded in the fight, among the scattering of Krow's now abandoned throwing knives. It's stained dark red with blood and he deems it simply too much of a risk to take back to the clearing, lest someone see him with it. Thus, he sends it careening over the edge and into the water system, along with the remnants of Krow's arm, the one that he had cut off.

It was almost too easy, he thinks to himself. Krow was a fighter sure, but a reckless, inexperienced one. Too ready to go in teeth bared and arms flailing, especially when it got angry. The fight had been over since the beginning, over since the moment it lashed out in genuine anger.

His hand ghosts over the fresh, still-bleeding scar across his face and then over the stab wound in his shoulder. Despite its inexperience, It's no surprise that Krow did the biggest number on him. He had known it was the biggest threat from the beginning. It's still kind of annoying though. The shoulder wound would've been easy enough to hide If he could ignore the fact that it hurt more than he would like to admit. But now he has to come up with some excuse for the three deep slashes cutting across his face. He could just say that Krow attacked him, the others probably wouldn't ask too many questions. It wouldn't be exactly "out of character" for Krow, and technically it was true that Krow had attacked him. He could always dance around the topic if they asked for details.

It was a good short-term solution. He could think of a long term when he got to that point. For now, he would relish in his victory and prepare for more in the future. Now he could focus his efforts on getting out of the maze walls and continuing his mission to eradicate the demons. To avenge his family. To make up for all the time he spent trusting those things.

He could focus on the steadily rising temperatures in the clearing, and finally, tell his fellow clearing mates about it, and in the meantime, he could finally go back to living a normal life. Well, as normal as you could get when you were trapped in a death maze. He makes it back to the clearing just before nightfall, having to turn sideways to squeeze through the rapidly shrinking gap in the doors. The clearing is entirely devoid of activity. Most of the members are asleep, and the ones who aren't are just recluses anyway. Owen can slip into his house under the cover of night, and it's as if he never left.

He put the rest of his energy into cleaning his mess of a living space. Picking up and putting away the weapons and books and miscellaneous items that litter his floor. Making the house feel a little bit more like a home even though it will never really be one, despite what he once foolishly believed.

He also made a new sword, to replace the one he threw into the water after Krow. He didn't know exactly what he would need it for, only that he probably would need it at some point, and that he didn't want to be caught off guard when he did. He was impossibly focused, hunched over his work, that was going to be put to use against his training mannequin later. It was rewarding work though. Serene, calm, quiet. It was peaceful.