Chapter 13 Izek
"Old man, I think you need to see a doctor." Lucas shook his head nervously.
"Have you ever heard of a story where the characters wait for the main character to show up so they could go home too?" The old man spoke slowly and with many pauses.
Lucas thought the old man had bumped his head on the way over, there was no way he was talking about Lucas.
"Izek, I've been waiting for you." He spoke again in a soft tone and looked at Lucas.
"What do you mean by Izek? I'm not Izek, my name is Lucas, not Izek." Lucas denied his words. 'Who's Izek anyway?' Now he remembered that his nickname was similar, but it had a '3000' at the end, so the old man had to be mistaken.
"It's been so long since another protagonist has appeared."
Lucas's body was full of annoyance, he started rubbing his forehead. He heaved an exaggerated sigh and spoke, "Listen, could you please get straight to the point? You're talking between the lines and I don't have time for that." He sharpened his tone.
The little man looked away, also annoyed at how impatient this protagonist was here. "The youth of today have no patience." He inhaled and lay down on the grass.
"What patience? What're you even talking about?" Luca's body heated up.
First Toburo left a present on his face, now he stinks and now this little old person is getting on his nerves.
There was once a story of a boy who had to protect his loved ones from monsters and collect all the gems to win the game. He had missions and a team. He defeated a villain and freed all his people from suffering and torture." The old man spoke again of nowhere.
"The bad guy? What villain?" This word was the only one that caught his attention.
He hoped he would not have to fight anyone else or meet any more villains, he had had enough of this place.
Besides, he had a shift to complete, so he really had to return home with all his body parts.
"Kali's coming over." He spoke out of nowhere.
"Kali?" He repeated and looked behind his shoulder.
He heard large footsteps approaching,
*dum* *dum*
Someone large and aggressive was approaching, 'that can not be Kali.' Lucas denied his words.
A few seconds later he saw a pink lizard-like head coming towards him.
"What?" Lucas gasped.
Kali had turned into a dragon again.
'In such a short time?' He thought, remembering the voice of the system as it spoke about the restoration of energy.
He looked at his burnt palms and the scars left by the lightning and the burning faded: 'This can not be true,' he whispered to himself.
"Oi, Kali!!!" He bent his knees and stood up. He began to wave his hand.
He was happy that he no longer needed Toburo to walk and his burn scars faded away.
But Kali thought differently: 'Why is he so happy to see me in dragon form?'
She paused when she happened to see Master Wen lying in the cold grass, 'he really has strange habits' she shook her head.
It was the fifth time she had met him in this village and he always surprised her with his strange behaviour.
*dun* *dun*
At last she was there, in a huge bat-winged, scaly lizard form. She was a dragon again, but pink.
"Kali, when did you turn back into a dragon?" Lucas raised his voice so she could hear him better.
Kali looked down at him and what she saw surprised him.
His face was covered in dirt, and as a dragon who'd a better sense of smell, it smelled like shit.
"Lucas, I can hear you fine, you don't have to yell at me, and what happened to your face?" She quickly changed her tone.
Lucas took a step back and let his eyes wander over the place, he touched his face and forced himself to smile.
"Aah, that? See..." He paused as he thought of how to say something sensible. He just couldn't tell her that this stupid animal was using his face as a toilet. "I fell in the mud." He gritted his teeth awkwardly.
Kali knew something was wrong, because dirt doesn't smell that disgusting, 'he's lying.'
"I see." She replied without emotion in her tone. "Good day, Master Wen." She greeted the old man in her dragon form.
The old man didn't even bother to stand up, but just waved his head to greet her.
Kali nodded.
"Kali, this old man is crazy." Whispered Lucas to her, moving his hand to indicate that she should come closer to him.
Kali leaned her head down and listened to what Lucas had to say, looking carefully at the old man.
"He said I was some kind of protagonist." His tone was quiet. "And he said he was waiting for me." He added.
"What else did he say?" Kali's voice sounded worried.
"Some crap and bullshit that didn't even make sense." Lucas's tone sounded harsh. He firmly rejected what the old man had said to him.
"Lucas..." Kali paused and looked at the old man who was just standing up.
He removed the grass that was clinging to his old black robe and began to walk towards the two of them.
"Izek, you see this story is about you." He looked him straight in the eye.
"Stop this nonsense already." Lucas interrupted him in a harsh tone.
His blood was boiling, Lucas was getting angrier and angrier at the man who seemed to be talking some nonsense in his eyes.
"My name isn't Izek, my name is Lucas." He explained.
"But what name did the system give you when you arrived here?" He walked slowly towards them.
The old man had a sinister expression on his face, he looked like someone evil.
"The system announced you as an avatar, Izek, and your task is to free the other characters." He spoke so bluntly, as if almost commanding him to free him.
"Look, I don't know what kind of shit you've been smoking, but enough is enough." Lucas looked at him, trying to make it clear he wasn't afraid of him. He wasn't, the old man was small and weak, what could he do to him?
The old man stepped closer to Lucas. He didn't even care that Lucas was much taller than him.
He slowly formed his hands as if grasping an imaginary tennis ball and lunged at Lucas. He dug his fingers into the bicep of Lucas's swinging arm and tore at the muscle while slamming the forearm on the same side straight in with the heel of his hand, so to speak.
Lucas crashed to the ground and held his arm.
"You fuxking piece of shit! What did you do to me?" Lucas' eyes burned with rage, his voice didn't sound like that of a human being, more like of a roaring animal.
He felt a sharp pain in his muscle, his arm didn't move. He tried to stand up and bang his head at the old man, but then the system appeared.
[System activated.]
[You cannot attack your comrades]
[Goodbye.]
It shut down in seconds
The old man grinned and leaned down to Lucas: "So, what did I tell you, Izek?"