Day 1 Evening - I Dreamed of Santo (Pt 2)

“Oooohhhh Vaaaaaaaassssssss …” A deep rumbling voice chided in the darkness. “ … my Baaaaaaantaaaaaammmm … “ The voice chuckled with malice. “ … my booooooooooooooy.” A pair of giant ruby eyes glowing brightly in choking black, the creature was massive. Even the black could not cover it, the outline of the creature was just visible of one looked hard enough. It was coiled, looping endlessly in itself surrounded the thiningg beam of light protecting the young punk. The eyes though, just bright enough to see the feature of the dragon’s head. It was enough for the young man to take a startled to step back.

“Doooo you think she looooooved you?” The dragon laughed, a plume of smoke blowing from its nose.

“Stop it.” Vas warned his heart beating faster.

The dragon laughed. “Yeeeessssss my little Dragon. Do you think your new friends will keep you if the knew … what you aaaaaaarrrre.” It teased blowing a massive plume of smoke.

Vas choke and coughed violently, trying to cover his face from the stinging cloud. “I am not that person anymore.” Vas hissed back at the darkness, his face a mix of pain and fury.

“Oooohhh my boooooooy, my Bantam, you can not deny what you are!” The monster said in a twisted fatherly tone. “You can pretend my boy. Pretend you are a simple deckhand, bed all the pretty flowers you want, run from planet to planet.” The dark beast chuckled. “But a dragon is a dragon my boy and you are the fiercest one of them all.”

The smoke cleared and Vas looked look with dread, discovering he was clad in his armor, a golden dragon emblazoned boldly on his chest. Vas when to rip off the chest armor but it stuck fast. He roared working to rip something anything off him but none of it budged, it all stuck to him like as second skin. The effort left him gasping and face twisted with rage. “Get it off!” He demanded. “GET IT OFF!” He commanded with a roar.

The dragon laugher boomed a cracked like a thunderstorm. “YEESSSSSS! There is my son! This is who you are! You think they could accept you? You think they could love you!” The beast laughed even harder at the idea. “Look and at yourself and accept your fate. You destroy all you touch!”

Vas looked to his hands confused, his heart pounding when he saw they were soaked in blood. He was soaked in blood. “I - I don’t understand.” Vas said his breath coming in panicked gasps.

“My son, behold your handiwork. The inevitable and unavoidable truth.” It declared with a plume of fire.

Vas yelled crouching low and covering his face with his arms to guard against the heat flash of fire. Breathing hard he warily lowered his guard and paled. He was still in the ships cargo bay, filled with the bodies of those he killed. Men, women, and children piled like cordwood filling every inch of cargo space a grotesque cathedral of corpses. The air with thinck with the heavy coppery smell blood and rot. Vas breath quickened at the gore and volume of his sins.

“No …. NO … you lie.” Vas said more to himself than to the Beast wherever it was lurking he said slowly backpedaling. “You LI-.” He was about to declare but tripped over what he could only assume was yet another dead body. Vas hit the floor hard, in a fit of rage and denial he was about to kick the offending corpse away from him but the familiar splash of red hair stop him cold.

Vas hand shook turning over the small broken form. Shanky. It was enough for Vas to reel back scooting away from the girl as if she were going to jump and attack him in vengeance. The little girl's face was pale and doll-like, her single eye wide and still full of fear, the tears streak her cheek still wet. The massive bruise on her small neck was all he needed to know what had killed her.

“No, not what … who.” Said a man standing in the center of it all. He was the only person in the verse that could strike such total fear into the young Clipper. The man was tall and seemingly rail thin, his face was hard and smooth, almost ageless if it wasn't for the grey peppering his hair. As always the man's long hair was oiled and impeccable, braided into a tight queue and coiled into a top knot. As always he was dress in a black silk cheongsam with a coiling dragon motif. Hundred Eyes, Master of the Jo Long Bao Clippers.

“I did not.” Vas shot back emphatically. “I would not!” He shouted his voice cracking and angry fist hitting the floor.

“You have, you will and you would.” The man said in a sharp tone unsympathetic tone. “She was not the only one boy.” He waved.

Vas turned confused and keened to see the crew strung up behind him like demented new years lights along the ship wall. The bodies where dripped with blood from the numerous cuts. “No!” He wailed. “No! You did this! YOU!” He screamed charging at Hundred Eyes blind with hot tears. “I am not that person anymore! I have CHANGED!” Vas roared clawing his hand into Dragon style. He let loose a blistering flurry of strikes as he dipped and rose in the unusual zigzag of the dragon stance.

Hundred Eyes laughed batting each strike as if Vas was an amateur. Each block stung, it was like being hit with an iron bar! That much at least was true to form. It only made Vas madder and he surged forward, lashing out with a kick. Hundred Eye again batted aside and like lighting struck Vas square in the gut, followed by and snap of the elbow clear across his face. The power of the hits not only sent the breath out of him but spinning to the floor.

“I’ve changed.” Vas wheezed unable to get any air to his lung as he rolled onto his back. “I’ve changed.” He swore with a sob.

“Tell that to the dead my son.” Hundred Eye said shaking his head. In a smooth motion draw his slim sword with a hiss and plunged it down into Vas’s chest.

Vas bolted upright gasping, swinging wildly in the air to stop the imaginary sword with such violence he fell out of bed. He was on the floor gasping, a hand on his chest where the sword would have skewered him. Vas’s heart was still trying to pound its way out of his chest.

“Fuck…” Vas swore in a murmur. “Fuck, fuck, fuck …” He repeated quietly wiping the sweat and tears from his eyes. “Too fucking intense.” Vas admitted to himself. He was just glad he was the only one in the small room at the moment.