Power: Part 1

Galian pulled his wooden spoon filled with hot stew close and gave it a quick sniff.

“Hmm, It’s missing something.” He said as he dropped the spoon back into the stew. He scratched his head for a moment pondering what could be missing. He then grabbed his overly large pack and began rummaging through it. He pulled out spice bottle after spice bottle Each one he grabbed he sniffed deeply and if it wasn’t right he just tossed it over his shoulder. As he was doing this there was some rustling in the nearby woods, but Galian hadn’t seemed to notice or care. He just kept going about searching for the missing spice. Not, but a few seconds later two gnarly looking men bolted into the clearing Galian had set up camp in, but still he didn’t look up from his bag of spices. They wore patched leather armor and wielded longswords with chipped blades. They both were bald with long braided beards. Each man was enormous their muscles bulging from every seem. They stopped next to Galian to catch their breathe, one of the men bent over, hands on his knees gasping for air, and the other although he was gasping just as hard surveyed his surroundings. Aside from Galian the area around looked all the same. It was just dense woods as far as the eye could see.

“Hey, you! where the hell are we?” The one surveying the surroundings said, but still Galian just continued to sniff and, toss spices over his shoulder. Clearly angered by being ignored the brute raised his voice and spoke again.

“HEY! I asked you a ques-“ he was cut off as some more rustling sounded from where the two had come from. The two appeared to be frightened and they quickly glanced around looking for anywhere to go. Not a second later a single man emerged from the trees. This man was in far better shape than the other two because he wasn’t breathing hard in the slightest. Not only that but he was also in a nice set of platinum colored armor, and bore a red and gold cloak. He had sword in hand and even his blade showed he was of a higher status than the other two men. It was long and polished, so much so that it reflected like a mirror. The hand guard was the color of his armor with gold engravings along the edges, and the hilt was wrapped elegantly in black leather, and the pommel bore a single square ruby. The man quickly took in his surroundings. Galian, still digging through his pack now with a pile of spice bottles behind him sat between the armored man and the two other men. In a stirn tone, and the most proper pronunciation the armored man said.

“Lay down your weapons, and give up. You know you cannot defeat me.” Then he took his sword in two hands and took a fighting stance in completely perfect form. The two men did nothing at first but the man who was out of breathe moments ago spoke in a deep barbaric voice.

“You’re not taking us back to the hell hole of a prison. We know who you are, Reeve of the black mist. Unfortunately for you, your power won’t work on us.” 

Their words merited no response from Reeve. He squared up his stance and brought his sword to the middle of his body, but right then Galian’s hand shot into the air holding a spice bottle.

“AHA, got it!” He exclaimed and quickly he grabbed his spoon and poured some of the seasoning onto it.

“How could I be so stupid and forget the pepper.” Galian said shaking his head. Reeve didn’t lose focus of what he was doing and he released his magic.

“Blackmist.”

As he finished speaking suddenly a black fog swelled up on both sides of Reeve and began to spread towards the two men, but quickly they both inhaled deeply, deeper than normal people could and with massive puffed up chests they released jets of air at the blackmist. The mist was whisked away into the sky and then it dissipated. Not only that but some of the jet stream blew the pepper off of Galian’s spoon and a single grain of pepper flew right into his nose. Immediately he felt the need to sneeze.

“Aaaaah…. aaaaah,” quickly turning away from his stew as he didn’t want to sneeze on it. “AAACHOOOO!” Galian released a sneeze so powerful at the two men, they were thrown so far and so fast that Reeve couldn’t even see where they might land. Galian whose eyes were closed from the sneeze quickly rubbed his nose and said.

“Oh, I’m so sorry i snee...” he opened his eyes to see that not only had the two men been blown away, but a hole as wide as a wagon had been cut through the forest as far as the eye could see. He put a hand behind his neck and said.

“Oops.” With a chuckle and a smile. Then he turned back to his spoon and pepper and poured some more pepper on it then began to stir it into the stew. Meanwhile the whole time Reeve whose jaw was dropped, was glancing back and forth from the hole now clear cut several miles into the forest and this odd man quietly cooking his stew. He studied Galian intensely. He had a muscular physique but nothing crazy. He had short brown hair and dark brown eyes but other than that almost no distinguishing features. He had a decently handsome face that was scrunched up from focusing so hard on cooking his stew. He wore common clothes. No armor at all. Just a red shirt and some brown pants with some black boots. By all standards this man just appeared to be an average guy, but Reeve knew better after what he had just witnessed. He sheathed his sword in his scabbard that was on his back, and sat down across from Galian who was still working on the stew.

“Sorry about your friends. That was totally an accident.” Said Galian not removing his focus from the stew.

“Those were two B class criminals who just escaped from Marzipan Prison. They were extremely powerful and dangerous, and you blew them away with an accident?” Reeve said dumbfounded.

“So are you a bounty hunter then?” Asked Galian smelling a spoonful of stew, then tasting it, and smiling in triumph.

“Yes, I’m Reeve of the blackmist. You must be a bounty hunter too with that incredible power you possess. What do they call you? Surely something to do with your super sneeze?” Galian spit out the stew he was currently tasting and laughed hard for a moment, until he realized Reeve had the most serious look on his face.

“No no no, you’ve got the wrong idea. I’m called Galian, and It was just a sneeze. I’m no bounty hunter either. I’m just a guy who likes good food.” Galian said with a shrug. Now even more confused Reeve said.

“Then where did that power come from? You must’ve had years of training to achieve it, a lifetime even.”

“Nope, never trained a day in my life.” He said as he began to fill two bowls of stew.

“What? That’s not possible. There has to be some secret to your power.” Reeve questioned further taking the bowl as Galian handed it to him.

“Nope, I just kinda go with the flow and travel around looking for new spices and food to eat,” Then Galian took a bite of his stew and savored the taste. “Try the stew. It’s amazing.” 

Then without taking his eyes of this man who was so strange to him Reeve took a spoonful of the stew, and his tastebuds exploded with flavor. He had never tasted anything so good. He forgot about what he was talking about and began ravaging his bowl of stew. Galian laughed, and said.

“I take it you like the stew?” With a full mouth and empty bowl Reeve replied.

“It’s amazing! May I have more?”

“Sure, eat your fill. Nothing makes me happier than when people enjoy my food.” 

     With full bellies and the pan of stew nearly gone the both sat back giving their pudging bellies room to digest food. The sun had nearly gone down and in the forest it was dark as night already. The only light was the small cooking fire the flickered dimly between the two. Galian gazes up through the clearing patiently waiting for the stars to appear, and slowly one by one the sky became littered with stars. Reeve who now full and focused again continued to study this man. Then an idea popped into his head.

“Galian. If it’s okay with you I’d like to travel with you for a bit.” Without a moments hesitation He answered.

“Sure, I could always use the company. Was the food that good?”

“The food was surely delicious, but no I simply think there’s more to you than meets the eye, and I’d like to find out what that is.” Galian just chuckled and then said.

“Sure sure. There’s an extra bedroll in my bag let me just grab it,” Then he rummaged through his large bag and gave the bedroll to Reeve. “Now let’s get some rest. I’d like to make it through this forest tomorrow.” Then Galian blew out what remained of the fire and they both went to sleep.