Draconic Testament

by Zac Atie

  “It’s not like that. I don’t, y’know, think of her that way… Meh, you wouldn’t understand.” Bastion huffs.

  ”By the way you get all bothered about it, I think I already do. I mean, she’s beautiful, I know... though, her chest is nothing to be desired. It’s as flat as a wall, unlike Talia’s.” Vander prods. Bastion shoots Vander a ‘back off’ look, and Vander heeds the warning. “Alright, none of my business, I know.” Vander submits to the warning, rolling his eyes, making a last attempt to bother Bastion and be in the safe zone of the argument. He does this a lot, he submits then does something small to annoy Bastion, and if Bastion pursues the matter, then he’s effectively in the wrong. Bastion huffs grudgingly. This was by far the most annoying thing that Vander does to Bastion, and they argue on very little. Vander’s scolding sticks with Bastion throughout the rest of the lesson, and he spends more time listening than he does staring at Veronica, though he does take a few peeks. The bells ring and the lesson are over. Veronica just blends with the crowd and disappears off to her next lesson, and Bastion watches until prompted by a disgruntled Vander to follow him off, down the hall, towards geography. “You’re starting to worry me.” Vander says.

  ”Yeah, alright, I'm sorry, let’s just not talk about it.” Bastion says, not wanting to end up snapping at his best friend. He changes the subject. “You going to Archery classes tonight?”

  ”You bet.” Vander beams “Gotta practice and shit.”

  ”If… you don’t mind me asking, are you doing it for a hobby?” Bastion prods, curiously “Or, are you doing it for a career in… something?”

  ”Yeah, but I can’t tell you just yet.” Vander says, smiling slyly.

  ”Oh come on, I'm your friend!” Bastion moans.

  ”Yeah, but some guys have secrets and shit.” Vander laughs.

  ”You’re gonna drive me crazy, PLEASE tell me.” Bastion says, starting to slow him down.

  ”Alright, fine.” He says, doing the ‘Vance’. “I'm going to go to Africa or something and kill a bunch of wildlife, sell the pelts and the meat, make a… wait for it… a killing!” Bastion wasn’t amused.

  “I hope it’s something less stupid.” Bastions huffs. Vander laughs at the remark.

  ”Chillax, all you need to know is I’ll make as much money as a whore on a sailor’s shore leave!” He says, as he descends the stairs to his next lesson, leaving Bastion on the top.

  School was over, Bastion was sitting side by side with Talia on the edge of his platform in his Haven, eating a small portion of chips as opposed to Talia’s large bag with a Cheeseburger. She had a large appetite, but she burnt it all off during her sports. “Must suck having not a lot of girls playing sports at lunchtime.” Bastion says to Talia.

  ”I get to hang out with you… so not really.” She says. “Plenty of time to play around on the fields during lesson times instead of sitting in a class, although, it’s practically all boys there.”

  ”Suppose you must be popular, jiggling around the field sweating amongst them.” He giggles, trying to provoke a reaction. “Shut up!” Talia laughs, throwing a chip at him. “So, Bastion, have you given any clearer thought into what you actually want to do?” She asks.

  ”No. No, I don’t have a clue.” He says. There were many things he wanted to do. Learning to defend himself had become a hobby, and he had a lust for reading, but how long would that last? Soon, he’d have to go to a college far away from the Haven, and he’d always feel that addiction of wanting to go back. He went on holiday with his mother one time, close to the time after discovering the Haven, and it was his last. Throughout the entire vacation, he spent his time thinking of the Haven. It drove him to the brink of insanity, and he almost drove his mother there too, asking how long it was till they went back. The night they got back, he disappeared, and slept at the Haven all night, to his mother’s horror. Bastion has stayed close to home ever since that time. So, what future would he have if he remained chained to this place? Talia raised an eyebrow. “Well… It won’t matter soon enough.” She said, “You’re smart enough to end up rolling in the money… and...” She begins. She’s edging for something here.

  ”And... what?” Bastion asks, raising an eyebrow, and putting aside his empty packet of chips. Talia swallows the last of her cheeseburger, and puts aside hers too, edging closer to Bastion, making his way upon his lap, arm around him. “Well. I hope you’ll take me there with you.” She says, kissing his eyelids, a very odd thing that she does. “I love you, y’know. I’d love to spend the rest of my life with you.” Bastion smiles, happy to hear those words. He presses his head against her breasts. “I love you too.” He says, and then he kisses her. After a few moments of the passionate kissing, Bastion notices that Talia is being bothered by something, in the way that she kisses and touches him. It’s a poor performance by her standards, and this is one of the more romantic times of the pair. “What’s wrong?” He says to Talia, slightly worried.

  ”Oh.. Err...” She begins. “Well, it’s probably nothing but…”

  ”Go on. Tell me.” He says, smiling.

  ”Surely you heard that another murder occurred two days ago?” She mumbles. “It happened nearby… a young girl, I think she was 18. That serial killer struck again.” Bastion had heard of this. Surrey had a serial killer, a very distinctive one at that. Among being a super genius that loved books, one of the few things that could pry him away from his studies were his investigative lust. He had picked up a thing or two from the Comic superhero, Batman. It seems childish, which is why he never told anybody, but the character himself is what interested Bastion. A normal human vigilante who had supreme fighting techniques and gadgets that helped him investigate crimes, and he nearly always succeeded, and among this, he never killed. Bastion hated killing, killing that was so seamlessly heartless within movies and video games, and brushed off like it was no big deal. However, sometimes he felt like he wanted to be a vigilante… a superhero, like Batman.

  The serial killer had a distinctive style. Nobody knows exactly how he killed his victims, but the victim’s throats were sliced and their hearts were pierced, though nobody knows what with. Among that, the wounds had been cauterized after the killings, very shortly after the wounds had been made. It astounds the police force… and it astounded Bastion. He had no clue how he did it, or even why. Why would he just stop the bleeding after the victim is already dead from the heart stab and the neck slicing? Other information varies, they were all in areas that nobody would simply find them during the daytime, or find them at all, such as a sewer, or in the middle of the forest. However, he picked up gossip from school that a pub owner knew the person that was killed and was trying to get famous for it, so Bastion decided to as the owner a couple of questions, taking along an extremely nosy Vander. Bastion snooped around from the pub owner’s tips, he didn’t get far. All he found out were that they were dressed in old clothing, like the Victorian type. It creeped Bastion out… but after trying hard, Vander persuaded him to give up, saying that he wasn’t a cop and he’d likely get in trouble if he went any farther anyway. Bastion heeded the warnings, and left it alone. However, now the killer is here, and he’s bothering Talia, so that bothers him. Bastion thinks that he should investigate into this… however, there’s still the matter of the worried Talia. Bastion decided that he would lie to her, to make her feel better. “You have nothing to worry about, Talia.” Bastion says.

  “You’re just saying that, you do-“ Talia begins, but Bastion cuts her off.

  ”No, I know for certain. Remember when I went with Vander to investigate those murders? Well… I found out that the killer, that sick bastard, only goes for adopted kids.” He said, first thing popping into his head. Talia’s eyes widen slightly. “But… aren’t you...” She begins.

  ”Shh, you’ll be fine, don’t dwell on it.” Bastion says, knowing he messed up that time. “Do you know who she was, or where she was found?”

  ”Yeah, she was found in an alley, and I d
on’t know her name. But she spent a lot of time at the Library over in town.” She says. “I saw her talking to that err… Cunt.”

  ”Wha- What?” Bastion stutters at Talia’s explicitly.

  ”Veronica, she knew her. Sort of. They didn’t like each other, from what I heard... so yeah.”

  ”But… How come the police haven’t questioned Veronica then? From now since it happened, she hasn’t been absent or anything…” Bastion pondered.

  ”Well… The police probably don’t know.” Talia mumbles.

  ”So…” Bastion begins, becoming suspicious, “If the police don’t know, how do you?” Talia bit her lip, and looked away from Bastion. “Well… err…” She stutters.

  ”What? What did you do, Talia?” Bastion says, becoming a little worried.

  ”Well, remember when you left school at lunchtime last week? Well, I checked the haven and your house… and you weren’t there.” She begins, obviously not wanting to explain herself, “I thought you were with Veronica. I went to see, and they were both there.” Bastion begins to glare at Talia. “Don’t do that…” Talia says, kissing his cheek, buttering him up.

  ”Glad to see you can trust me” Bastion sighs, then gives in to Talia and hugs her tight. “But, err, what where they saying?”

  ”No clue, it sounded stupid. Probably talking about some sad fantasy game, but Veronica ended up losing her cool and telling her to go away, even gave a death threat.” She says.

  ”Nothing else?” Bastion asks. Talia sighs.

  ”I dunno.” She said.

  ”How do you know it was a ‘Sad fantasy game’?” Bastion asked, eyebrow raised.

  ”Jeez, they were talking about magic or something, I wasn’t paying attention.” Talia huffs, wanting to get back to snuggling. But the mere mention of magic put Bastion off. He looked at his watch as Talia hugged him. 5:18 PM. Bastion figured that he could play around with Talia for 12 minutes, till half past, then he’d race off to the Library, where he’d interrogate Veronica. He knew Talia would be annoyed at the prospect of her boyfriend rushing off to the girl she hated, so he decided he’d keep it secret, and went back to kissing Talia.

  Bastion kisses Talia goodbye, and races down to his house, waiting for about 10 minutes for Talia to get home and definitely out of sight, before grabbing his library pass and skipping out the house. Bastion jogged into town to find the Library where Veronica most likely was, before she leaves and he misses his chance to question her. Of course, he wasn’t really going to straight up interrogate Veronica. He still had that wary fear within him of her, and since Talia had told him that they were talking about Magic, that had put him on edge… but, he hoped he had this all wrong. He hoped the two of them were friends, she’s grieving, and they DID play Fantasy games. He could use this opportunity to become her shoulder to cry on, perhaps befriend her, find out about why he was so scared of her… and perhaps even look for the killer. He wondered what he’d actually do if he found the killer. He knew he could cross Veronica off the list of potential suspects for the killings, because she wasn’t absent around the times of the first killings, and they started far away. Bastion passes through the crowds of brooding adults, and hyped up teenagers as he approaches the Library. It was huge, having several floors to it. The membership fee was outrageous for such a place, about 20 pounds per month, but since Bastion made very good use of it, his mother tolerated the price. He entered the library, approaching the desk and showing off his membership ID, before ascending the stairs. He passed through the many bookshelves within the library, looking around for Veronica, though he couldn’t quite sense her. He rinsed and repeated this tactic, going up a floor at a time… before Bastion finally sensed it, stopping in place as he felt the malevolent presence. She was on the top floor, in one of the private study areas. He went up the stairs and approached the glass where the study area was. Sure enough, she was there, next to a huge pile of fiction books. He moved away from the glass, out of sight, and prepared himself, going over lines in his head. After the seventh attempt on the “Hello.” line, he hissed and abandoned the preparation sequence. He felt that he could do this, he just had to be cool about it. Be cool, and slide in, talk to her. “She probably isn’t so bad.” He whispered, beginning to feel a sweat coming to him. “She’s likely misunderstood… perhaps shy… just go in. Be nice… charming. But not too charming, no, that might insult her. Perhaps piss her off. Or, it could make her fall for you… has its advantages, but Talia would hang me. Why would she, anyway? I mean, I'm not trying to get in the girl’s knickers… Alright, enough, shut up, Bastion, you’re talking to yourself.” He huffs, almost laughing at himself for his stupidity, and opens the door to the study area.

  ”Uhh, hey.” Bastion says, as he opens the door slowly and walks in. Veronica cocks and eyebrow and looks at him, not moving her head. She was obviously not expecting any company. She was reading a book, ‘The prince, Nicollo Machiavelli’. “Afternoon.” She huffs grudgingly, and then she goes back to reading her book. The words she used were polite, and formal, but her tone was obviously one of annoyance. Bastion had already beaten most of the schools population of boys in progress, because what he usually heard about the girl was that she never spoke to anyone. Perhaps he had a chance at being friends after all. ”You’re Veronica, aren’t you? Seen you in class, I'm your Biology classmate… Seb-“ Bastion begins.

  ”Sebastian Slater, aye. I know…” Veronica cuts him off. Bastion felt unwanted here… most likely was, but this area wasn’t reserved for her. He could be here if he wanted to, he paid the fee just like her. “Man up. Don't let yourself get shut down by some grumpy girl. Hell, she only comes up to your chin.” He thought to himself, and he took a seat. Then he realized, he didn’t have a book, he was just staring at her again. She wasn’t wearing her school clothes, probably went home and changed… though… The clothes she was wearing were Victorian, like the victims from the serial killer, only they weren’t exactly the same. They were more frilly. She wore a black Victorian blouse, and a matching long skirt with white, long socks, and black bordellos. She didn’t dress like normal people… she’s probably picked on when they pass her on the street, because there’s no way that that’s acceptable clothing in the eyes of society. Could be why she has a constant, blank expression on her face, as if she underwent some sort of severe trauma. At the thought, Bastion begins to feel sorry for her. She doesn’t even look like she’s enjoying the book she’s reading. She also wore a black medallion… A snake with a red crystal within it’s eye. The crystal doesn’t look fake… it probably cost a fortune. However, at that moment, Veronica looked up from her book and met his stare with her own. “Uhh...” He begins. Veronica continues staring back at him. This was extremely awkward. “I'm sorry about your friend.”

  ”I don’t know whom you are referring.” Veronica asks, confused.

  ”The woman who died from that serial killer… I saw her a couple of times with you… sorry.” Bastion lied, hoping that would throw off her hostility. “Hmph. ‘Friend’.” She said. “Barely knew her. Likely deserved what she got.”

  “Oh…” Bastion said, taken aback by her boldness. “So, you wouldn’t know who’d want her dead, or what she was doing before she died?”

  ”No.” Veronica sighed, looking back at her books. “You’re finished here. Leave.”

  ”Ah… I see, well, thanks… that’s all I wanted…” Bastion said. He figured he should leave, not really wanting to press for more information when he’s not wanted. Probably should’ve took Vander, he’s a lot more better at prying information from people… but before he left, he wanted to see if he could strike up conversation, knowing that it was probably a huge mistake. “Nicollo Machiavelli, huh? I'm a fan of history, though I heard it’s rather controversial.” Bastion chokes on a forced laugh. “Would you recommend it?”

  ”No. Wouldn’t want to overwork your brain.” Veronica says, not taking her eyes off the book.

  ”Well… I don’t know about th
at. I mean, I read a lot of books… and I have good grades in English.” Bastion said, almost offended. ”In GCSE.” Veronica interrupts. “This is sometimes used for A-level exams. Besides, grades you achieved in a mere school only rate your intelligence among the common folk.”

  ”I see.” Bastion says. Her archaic choice of words interested him. He thought about upping his vocabulary, but he figured that would give off a creepy impression. The room went silent again. Bastion figured he should just leave before he really pissed her off, but he decided to wait around a little longer. “So, you live round here?” He asks. Veronica looks up from the book at him again. He met her gaze, standing his ground, then, she puts down the book gently. “What is it you want from me, exactly?” Veronica hisses at him, looking angry now. “Are you some kind of pathetic, obsessive stalker? Are you looking to have your eyes ripped out?”

  ”Wh… What? Why would you ask me something like that?” Bastion asked, feeling threatened due to her glaring and her supernatural feeling is beginning to change, become more active, more threatening. “Oh, come now. Do you believe yourself to be subtle, staring at me constantly, during class?” Veronica hisses at him again, angry. “No, It’s not like that… you see, I-“ Bastion begins, but he gets shut down by Veronica.