Chapter 41: Numbers & Battles

Chapter 41: Numbers & Battles Tuesday chuckled. "Yes, it is you. I wasn’t too sure what element to classify you under so I just left it as neutral, but it should be fine anyway." "Thank you!" said Misha, beaming. "Look!" He held it out to Bran who took it. "When did you take the picture?" he asked. "I didn’t," replied Tuesday. "That’s a 3D rendition of him based on the data collected during the resonance test. Shengnü was able to save an image before the system went down in the attack." "Indeed." Bran gave Misha back his card, then glanced at the fourth member of the conversation. "And this is...?" "Oh." Tuesday gave a start like she’d completely forgotten about the stranger. She gestured to him. "This is Xu Yidi," she said. "He’s from Mainland headquarters. He’s here to help rebuild my database and get Shengnü back online as soon as possible." Xu Yidi gave a little wave. He was clearly an adult, probably about thirty or so, but his mannerisms and facial expressions made him seem more like a child. Misha wondered if he was some kind of creature in human form or just a special sort of human. "Since my office is..." Tuesday gave a grimace, "Not in use at the moment, you should contact Yidi instead if you have any problems." Xu Yidi jumped into action, pulling a phone out of his pocket. "Do you have-" "No phone," said Bran curtly. "You can give him your phone number," he pointed to Misha, "but I only use non-digital communication." "Oh, right, right," Xu Yidi said, rummaging into his pockets again. This time he pulled out two business cards and offered them to Bran and Misha. "Phone number on this side," he said, then turned the card. "And message bird on this side." He beamed. He seemed like a kind of ditzy sort of person and while Misha wasn’t too bothered by that sort, he seemed to rub Bran up the wrong way. Misha wondered why. "Alright, if that’s it, Misha and I’ll be heading back now," said Bran. Or maybe he was just not feeling too well because of the sword. They’d been able to recover the instrument case but that was beside the point. "Once I have a testing facility up and running again, you’d better come back to do that health check," Tuesday shouted after Bran and Misha as the former pulled the latter down the dock. "Got it," said Bran without looking back. Misha gave a wave and got one back from Xu Yidi. Bran was scowling when they too onto the boat. "What?" asked Misha as they finally found a place to sit. "Nothing," said Bran. "Lend me your shoulder." -- It was evening by the time Bran and Misha made it to the border of the Walled City, but instead of heading in like normal, Bran pulled Misha aside and led him down a parallel alleyway instead. There was a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant there and they went in to sit. Misha looked at the menu and gawked at the prices. "Bran," he said quietly. "I can cook if we go back home. There’s still stuff in the fridge I can use." "We can’t go back just yet," replied Bran. He’d gotten a nap, on Misha’s shoulder, on the way back and was looking better than earlier. "Why not?" "I’ll explain later," said Bran. "What are you having?" Misha turned his attention back to the menu. Was Bran secretly sulking? He didn’t look like it, but the guy always had such a stoic expression that it was hard to really be sure. Misha sneaked a glance at him. "What?" "Nothing." Misha zeroed in on the cheapest item on the menu. "Can you still read without your glasses?" he asked. "Not really." "Eh? Really? Then, shouldn’t we go back home first to get your spare?" Bran waved a hand. "It’s fine. We’ll deal with the currency issue first." He knocked a finger against the instrument case now sitting beside Misha. "So soon?" asked Misha. Bran had been oddly reticent about how he planned to ’deal with the currency issue’, so Misha had assumed it was because his idea hadn’t been fully formed yet. "Now’s the best time," said Bran. He looked around the quickly filling restaurant. "Once it’s quieter, I’ll explain more." Their food arrived and they dug in, with Bran eating a bowl of noodles and Misha two rolls of rice and meat floss. "Is that really enough for you?" asked Bran. Misha nodded. He wasn’t all that hungry for food. What he wanted was information. Bran drank some of the broth then set his bowl down. "If you have questions, ask. If I can answer, I will. We’ve got time." Misha nibbled a little more then lowered his roll. "That guy, the pawnshop guy, was he the guy your father sold your soul to?" Bran’s eyebrows went up a little. "I was expecting you to ask why we didn’t have to pay." "Oh yeah, why didn’t we have to pay?" Bran chuckled and Misha felt a knot in his heart loosen. "To answer your first question, no, that wasn’t who my father pawned my soul to, but it was in that shop, just to the previous keeper." "How does that work actually?" Misha thought this topic was taboo but now that the can of worms had been open, he thought he may as well open the whole thing. "What, pawning a soul?" "Yeah." Bran shrugged. "No idea. I was told to sit inside a box - it was kind of like one of those confessional boxes in Catholic churches, you know the ones?" Misha nodded. "Yeah, well, I sat inside then when I opened my eyes the next time, it was three years later." "Three years?!" "Oh. Did I not mention that before?" Misha stared at Bran dumbfounded. "No... you just said you ended up as the sheath for a demon blade." "I see..." Bran stared off into the distance, eyes unfocused. "Well, to answer your second question, the reason we didn’t have to pay anything is because that guy, Feilou Tong, still owes me for taking that sword off his hands." "Excalibur?" "Yeah. When he became the keeper of the shop, he ran into some trouble with some knights from some round table and he had to get rid of that sword fast. I happened to be around, so he gave it to me." There was something odd about how Bran was describing the situation, but Misha couldn’t quite put his finger on it. "So why the three years?" "That’s..." Bran grimaced. "You should probably ask my aunt that. Even now I’m not entirely sure what she did when she saved my life." It took a long time for the restaurant to get quiet, so it was past midnight by the time Bran and Misha left and started towards the Walled City. The lights of all the little homes were lit and the warbly echoes of television sets watching different things blended together, making the block of buildings almost pulse. It was a place different in so many ways to the Under City, yet also so inextricably the same. Different types of beings, yes, but all ultimately just living their lives as best as they could. The pair had stopped at an intersection just one street away from the settlement. Misha wanted to ask why, but he restrained himself. He could feel an uncharacteristic tension in Bran as he stood leaning against a bit of railing that lined the street. Finally, an hour and a half later, when many of the lights in and around the Walled City had gone out, Bran stirred and turned to Misha. "Open the case," he said. There was no one around, but Misha still cast a quick look before dropping down to click open the instrument case. Where there had usually been a sword strapped into a mold there was now an unstrung bow and a pair of long daggers. Bran stooped, tied one dagger to his belt at the waist, slotted the other in his boot, then picked up the bow. "Alright, let’s go." Quietly curious, Misha closed up the case and followed after Bran. They crossed the road and ducked into one of the narrow alleys that led like holes in cheese into the heart of the Walled City. Once they were partly in, Bran took a turn then stopped in a deserted passageway. It was about a metre in width, but the end was shrouded in darkness so Misha couldn’t see the end of it. "Take off your clothes," said Bran. "W-what?" Misha blushed furiously. "You need to transform into a dragon." "O-oh, okay," Misha mumbled. He turned, set the case down, then pulled up his shirt. He glanced back at Bran and saw that he’d turned around. Misha shook his head and tried to push everything from his mind, especially all those lurid images that had suddenly flooded it. "All done?" Bran asked a few minutes later. The long snout of a dragon pushed against his arm in response. Bran took a deep breath and, for the first time, actually looked worried. "Once I explain what’s going on, things are going to happen really quickly and you have to be prepared, alright?" Misha made a crooning sound in the back of his throat and cocked his head to one side. Bran scratched the dragon behind his ear. "It’ll be okay," he said, but the fact that he had to say it made Misha worry more.