Decay: a tale of destruction by S. Matisko

Author:S. Matisko [Matisko, S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-10-01T04:00:00+00:00

* * *

We snuck past half a dozen monster hunters, all heading north. They were trying to catch those looking for sanctuary. There are none, only Master Samara and me, between here and there. Howie didn’t want me to kill the group. They appeared young and bad at fighting. They wore silver armor, but they were small. Any monster that had lived this long would not be bested by a bunch of children in silver. For the sake of Howie’s emotional well-being… I let them walk north. They were lucky Howie was with me.

Howie’s attitude improved—I think because he wanted to lighten my mood. It was interesting. We couldn’t be happy at the same time. We were motivated to help each other.

Why was Howie motivated to help me? I bet I’m just his new monster friend to fill the hole Orson left. Howie was a thinker—a blinded-by-the-light positive thinker, but a thinker nonetheless. He was well educated and always wanted to talk, and talk… and talk.

“All people have good in them, monster and human alike!” he asserted. I know what books he read to get that idea. I think Howie was proud of me for letting those human kids go, but I didn’t do it for them. I did it for him.

“Just because someone has the capacity for good does not make them so.”

“If the good is in you, you are good!”

“No,” I responded, bored.

“Anyone can make a mistake; it doesn’t make them bad people forever. People can grow, change, and learn! That growing and changing is the good, which they are.”

“Ha. No.” I answered as we walked on. It was a long way to walk at a human’s pace. The road was hard and uneven from the snowmelt.

“What? Eliza has never made a mistake?” When he said that, I suddenly smelled bodies burning as if I were back on the walls of Vallatin.

“One.”

“What was it?”

“I should have died defending Vallatin, but I ran off. Now I must live my whole life knowing that and trying to make up for it. If I’m anything, I am a bad person for abandoning my home, for not helping them more—”

“Psh, you would have died if you stayed. You know that. Now here we go, off to help monsters who would have been hopeless without us. Don’t you see? That is good, and it is in you! It is in everyone!” He annoyed me enough.

“Even a mother killer?” Howie went silent. “I’m not sure that’s a forgivable offense in the land of humans.” Howie stopped walking. I turned, expecting him to be crying again, but his face was empty.

“Why would you say that?” Howie asked in shock. He was too sensitive for me to be cruel and blunt. His friend had only very recently died. I knew what it felt like to lose your wereman.

“Sorry. I can get carried away in conceptual arguments.” Howie nodded. I decided the best thing to do was to return to the conversation given how much Howie adored talking and thinking.

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